Police hunt for man who unleashed 'torrent of abuse' on woman with guide dog

Police are investigating after a man abused a partially-sighted woman, calling her a ‘fake’ as she waited for a train with her guide dog.

The victim was singled out ‘with a torrent of verbal abuse’ by the man, British Transport Police said.

The verbal attack took place over a 25-minute period and the woman was shouted and sworn at with the man saying: ‘You are not disabled, you are fake.’

The incident happened earlier this month at Woodbridge station in Suffolk.

Police are treating the abuse as a hate crime and said the man shown in the CCTV has information that could help.

The woman was first approached at around 10pm and at first the man appeared friendly and began stroking her dog and asking about her disability.

However, he quickly became abusive after the woman asked him to stop as the dog was becoming agitated and she felt intimidated.

Disability hate crime is a recognised by the authorities as ‘any incident or crime which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability or perceived disability’.

Woodbridge is a town close to Ipswich.