A 46-YEAR-OLD man has been banned from every school and college in Blackburn and Darwen after a series of incidents which saw him swearing at children and making comments about the Dunblane massacre.

Magistrates issued the criminal anti-social behaviour order for three years after hearing how Richard Gareth Cass had gone into Westholme Infant School and made the remarks about the tragedy, leaving the school secretary ‘terrified’.

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Cass, of Bolton Road, Blackburn, is also banned from entering Blackburn Cathedral and The Mall shopping centre because of his behaviour there.

Alison Holden, school secretary at Westholme Infant School on Preston New Road, told how she saw Cass walking into the school in a military style.

He entered her office and started to talk about the Dunblane massacre and said it was a shame about all the children who were shot.

She told the court: “He said he had a grandchild and could he register her. I told him the details, hoping he would leave.

“I was worried by his behaviour although he couldn’t get into the school. As he left he stopped and looked at the children in the playground.”

Farhana Patel, a receptionist at Tauheedal Islamic Girls’ High School, also on Preston New Road, told the court how Cass had been in the school grounds on several occasions and the girls found it distressing.

On one occasion he walked into the school and started banging on a security door and swearing. On another occasion he swore at pupils, calling them names, and they ran back into school.

Vice-principal Lukman Ahmed said Cass was seen shadow boxing outside classroom windows.

“I went out with a colleague to challenge him but he wouldn’t answer any of our questions,” said Mr Ahmed. “He appeared very angry.”

The court heard how Cass also frequently went into the cathedral where he would disrupt services, light candles and leave them in places that represented a fire hazard. On several occasions he took large gulps of wine from the communion cup.

PC Chris Hammil said Cathedral staff had spoken to Cass on many occasions but he had ignored requests not to light candles, disrupt services or drink the wine.

Management at The Mall had already banned Cass from the shopping centre but he repeatedly tried to enter the precinct. Every time he was spotted on CCTV at least two members of staff were sent to escort him out and he was monitored on CCTV because of his aggressive behaviour.

Security staff always tried to get to him before he had the chance to enter the shops. He had convictions for shoplifting but also went into shops like Debenhams and started spraying himself with aftershave, the court heard.

Speaking after the hearing, Sgt Mark Hutchinson, of the Blackburn town centre policing team, said: “Cass has been a persistent nuisance to, not only Blackburn Cathedral staff, but also other members of the public in the Blackburn area. “Hopefully this order will prevent any further problems.”

Vivienne Davenport, commercial director for Westholme School. said: “We take the safeguarding and security of our children and staff extremely seriously.

“Our staff are always very vigilant and in this particular case, we are pleased to see that our procedures worked effectively to protect our pupils, and possibly others.

“The Westholme Infant School receptionist responded to the unexpected visitor calmly, confidently and with the children’s safety firmly in her mind. We immediately took the next steps of informing the police and helped with their enquiries to bring this to a satisfactory conclusion.”

The Very Reverend Christopher Armstrong, Dean of Blackburn: “We are very sorry that we had to support this decision to prohibit him from the cathedral because he’s a nice guy and we can handle him well.

“Recently his behaviour has been quite threatening to people who don’t know him. In particular he can be very frightening to young children.”