A chartered surveyor left his neighbours ‘living in fear’ by secretly vandalising their cars because they had Palestinian flags on display in the windows of their homes.
Elliot Kersh, 64, caused £3,500 worth of damage during the targeted hate campaign in Prestwich, Manchester, which is home to Britain’s largest Jewish community outside London.
He was caught on CCTV, secretly creeping up driveways and scratching several cars during late night dog walks in the weeks after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Kersh, whose social media pages feature the Israeli flag and several pro-Israel posts, was arrested and admitted damaging the cars, and a garden wall, but denied he was a racist. Instead he told police he had only committed the offences because he found the Palestinian flag ‘offensive and intimidating.’
Earlier this week magistrates in Manchester ordered Kersh, who admitted three charges of racially aggravated criminal damage, to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work. They also imposed a restraining order banning him from going near the two addresses he targeted.
Elliot Kersh, 64, caused £3,500 worth of damage during the targeted hate campaign
But one of the neighbours affected, who asked not to be named, told the Mail they were ‘disappointed’ Kersh hadn’t been jailed, saying they had suffered ‘many sleepless nights’ because of his actions.
The woman said: ‘The worry of it all left us living in fear. I kept on expecting a brick or something to come through the window.
‘We have lived here for 33 years and we’ve never experienced any type of racism, racial abuse or anything like that.
‘We’ve always got on well with our neighbours and help each other all the time.
Kersh left his neighbours ‘living in fear’ by secretly vandalising their cars in Prestwich
‘During lockdown we exchanged gifts and a Jewish neighbour made us some Kosher sweets. We’ve never had any problems.’
But her husband said trouble began when their 15-year-old son decided to put up an A4-sized picture of the Palestinian flag that he’d painted in the front window of their home, as well as hanging another flag from his bedroom window.
‘My son’s a humanitarian,’ the man, who is of British-Asian heritage, insisted. ‘He’s been affected by the huge loss of life in Gaza. The whole nation can’t be held responsible for the actions of a minority.
‘The flags were a show of humanitarian support – anybody would want to stop the killing of innocent people.’
Kersh was caught on CCTV, secretly creeping up driveways and scratching several cars during late night dog walks in the weeks after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel
The man said that Kersh targeted their home ‘every two or three days’ beginning at the end of October – just weeks after Hamas launched the surprise attack on Israel. The vandalism continued until December.
The family installed CCTV cameras which captured Kersh, who was dressed in a long overcoat with his hood pulled up and with his small poodle-type dog on a lead, creeping onto their driveway on October 26 and scratching a BMW that belonged to their daughter.
Over the next few weeks he returned to carry out more damage and by December 6 ‘every panel except the bonnet’ on the BMW had deep scratches on it, prosecutors said.
Kersh scratched the bonnet of a VW Golf and damaged a garden wall in December
The family also claim footage showed Kersh stopping his car and opening his window to spray-paint the side of the man’s silver Nissan Micra, which was parked on the road outside their home.
‘Fortunately, the police were able to trace his car and identify him,’ the man said. ‘But it cost us £3,500 to fix both cars – he scratched every panel on my Micra.
‘We had many sleepless nights, so when he was arrested it was a huge relief.’
Kersh also targeted another home in a nearby street by scratching the bonnet of a VW Golf and damaging a garden wall on December 6.
That property also had a Palestinian flag on display.
Kersh admitted three charges of racially aggravated criminal damage earlier this week
Kersh, of Prestwich, was also sentenced to a 12 month community order with 15 rehabilitation days.
Joseph Seale, senior crown prosecutor for the North West, said: ‘Elliot Kersh has caused considerable upset and fear by deliberately targeting property belonging to homeowners who had Palestinian flags displayed in their windows.
‘The CPS take incidents of hate crime very seriously and we are dedicated to bringing perpetrators to justice, which is why we asked the court to apply an uplift to Kersh’s sentence to reflect the racial aggravation of the offences he committed.
‘Everyone has the right to exercise peaceful freedom of expression without fearing they will be targeted.’