Police want to find this man after woman told 'I might kill you when you're walking home'
British Transport Police have released an image of a man they want to speak to after a Muslim woman was told to "get out" of the country and that "I might kill you when you're walking home". Lila Tamea, was on the train home from Liverpool to Warrington on Saturday, September 7, when three men sat beside her. In footage posted online, one of them said "we need to kill all Muslims" and repeatedly used the N-word while on the busy night service.
The 26-year-old woman, who researches racism in education, was hoping to eat her food and finish some work on her journey home, but soon found herself being subjected to a tirade of disgusting and hateful comments. She told the ECHO: "The men were really friendly at the beginning; I was eating my chicken katsu and seaweed salad and the three of them came over to my table. They said the food smelled really good. I’d just finished the chicken but I offered them some of the seaweed.
"They were all half drunk and asked me if I drank. I said no but that I’d love to join them because they were going to the pub in Warrington. That’s when they started talking about Muslims. I thought it was just some nice drunk chaps on the train home on a Saturday. One of them asked what I do and I told him I’m a researcher - I don’t like to go into too much detail with random people about what I do. He kept asking about what I researched so I said ‘racism in education’. It was when I told them what I did that they began being properly racist.
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"He said to me: ‘You can research us, we’re racists’. I thought they were joking at first. He said: ‘I want to kill all Muslims, I want to get rid of them all, I want to kill them all.’"
Now, the British Transport Police have released an image of a man they would like to speak to in relation to the incident. A spokesperson for the force said: "Officers are today releasing an image following a hate crime incident on board a train from Liverpool Lime Street to Liverpool South Parkway.
"The incident occurred on Saturday 7 September at around 8.20pm when a man made comments about killing Muslims. He went on to make threats towards a Muslim passenger who challenged him before he left the service at Liverpool South Parkway.
"Officers would like to speak to the man in the image who they believe may have information that could help their investigation. Anyone who recognises him is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference number 787 of 7 September. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."