A man who urinated on a mosque door before entering the building and threatening to kill the elderly man inside and threatening to burn the place down has been jailed. Michael Campfield, 42, appeared at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to criminal damage and racially-aggravated harassment.
Incident at Neath mosque
The court heard that on the evening of June 15 this year, Campfield was seen by a witness who knows him to be in company with a number of people opposite the mosque in Neath town centre. The defendant was seen to "stumble" across the road to the mosque where he urinated on its doors while shouting over his shoulder to the group "I'm p*****g on them".
The witness formed the opinion Campfield was either drunk or under the influence of substances. Campfield then opened the door of the Windsor Road mosque and walked into the building where a man in his 70s was preparing for evening prayers. When the mosque elder saw Campfield was wearing shoes, he explained that everyone had to remove their shoes when they come in and asked him to take his off - a request which caused the defendant to become "angry".
Threats and arrest
The prosecutor said Campfield then began shouting at his victim "I will f*****g kill you! I will burn down this mosque! Trust me, I will burn this place down!" The defendant repeated his threats a number of times before leaving and returning to the group across the road while continuing to shout.
The matter was reported to police and Campfield was arrested the following day. He answered "no comment" to all questions asked in his subsequent interview.
Previous convictions and sentencing
Campfield, of Mile End Row, Melin, Neath, has 59 previous convictions for 106 offences including racially-aggravated public disorder in 2021 and 2025, criminal damage, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm from 2025, an offence which had seen him attacking a woman with a bottle and for which he was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Ian Ibrahim, for Campfield, said it was acknowledged that the defendant's previous convictions were "wholly unattractive" but said they reveal his client's problem with alcohol "which has plagued [him] for a number of years" and which has seen him drinking up to 10 cans of high-strength beer a day. He said it was accepted by the prosecution that the people his client had been with in Neath town centre on the day in question had been "egging him on", and he said in his conference with Campfield that the father-of-two had said he was sorry for what he did.
Recorder Christian Jowett told the defendant that after urinating on the door of the Neath mosque he had gone inside wearing his shoes, and that when asked to removed them he had become angry and issued a series of threats. With one-quarter discounts for his guilty pleas, Campfield was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison.
