London – A conspiracy theorist who admitted defacing seventeen bus stops in London with graffiti, including the words “Jews and gays are aliens”, has been cleared of stirring up racial hatred.
Nicholas Lalchan, 47, from Edmonton, London, used a black marker pen to deface the bus stops, causing £100 of damage each time.
When he was charged, Mr Lalchan, who is Canadian, allegedly said: “New world order. The fourth Reich. We will see.”
Mr Lalchan was convicted of stirring up racial hatred by a jury at Aldersgate House Nightingale Court in central London in September 2021, having admitted possessing a marker pen with intent to cause criminal damage and being convicted of doing so with racial or religious motivation, which he had denied.
When police searched his home, they reportedly found leaflets, marker pens, maps of bus routes and a USB stick containing pictures that referenced Jewish people and conspiracy theories.
Judge Gerard Pounder told Mr Lalchan: “All it takes is for a small Jewish child to see this, and for them to get very upset. You were deliberately hostile and you aimed it at a specific group of people, whether that be gay people, a Jewish priest [sic] or Jewish people.”
Mr Lalchan’s lawyers then appealed against his conviction for stirring up racial hatred.
In the most recent trial, Prosecutor David Patience told the court: “It is not in dispute that Mr Lalchan wrote the graffiti on the bus stops. He admitted that in the witness box. That written material was clearly threatening, abusive or insulting.
“The most obvious example I suggest is the phrase ‘Jews and gays are grey aliens’…Hatred of Jews is part and parcel of his belief system in relation to the new world order.”
According to Mr Patience, antisemitic cartoons had been founded downloaded on Mr Lalchan’s computer.
“The graffiti differed slightly from bus stop. It referred, the prosecution say, to bizarre conspiracy theories,” Mr Patience said, adding that the graffiti “encouraged people to search on YouTube and Google to find out about [the theories].”
The graffiti reportedly included references to “the Rothchild Trillions”, “Talmud quote” and “child rape assembly line”, as well as: “Beware malevolent aliens e.g. Jews and gays.”
Mr Patience added that “This graffiti was daubed on bus stops in areas of north west London, which the prosecution suggest have large Jewish communities, such as Edgware, Hendon, Finchley. It was seen by Jewish people, and others, who were distressed by what they saw and reported it to the police.”
Kerry Moore, defending, said that Mr Lalchan “puts Jews and gays together. That is not an ethnic group. Gays are not an ethnic group.”
Mr Lalchan told the court that “We’re in the trap and they’re closing the lid. They’re in control of the finances, in control of Facebook, the media…As a Christian, Jesus Christ is my messiah so I’m trying to get people who don’t believe in God.”
He added that the New World Order is “a socialist, communist kind of thing” which is “in control of the world’s economy, control the money, and control the people.”
Mr Moore said “If it was truly [Mr Lalchan’s] motivation to combat and deal with a new world order to convert people to Christianity then his intention was not to stir up racial hatred,” adding that “’His obsession is religious, not racial.”
The jury failed to reach a verdict against him on the charge of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage, and so the count was dropped by the prosecution.
