An elderly couple who were filmed shouting vile racist abuse at a nurse have been jailed for eight weeks.
Fyona Bairstow, 72, and Michael Bairstow, 77, told Apple Moorhouse to ‘go back to your dinghy’ after she told them they should have their dog on a lead.
Video footage of the incident in Manor Heath Park, Halifax, last August, went viral and showed the couple hurling the foul-mouthed abuse at the Filipino healthcare worker.
The couple, who have been married for three decades, became aggressive with Ms Moorhouse when their dog started barking at her children and she told them it should be on a lead, Bradford Magistrates’ Court heard.
Michael Bairstow then told the nurse to ‘go back to your dinghy’ while making swimming gestures towards her.
A magistrate told the couple that they should be ‘deeply ashamed’ of their behaviour, saying she felt ‘sickened’ by the abuse.
Ms Moorhouse said she was ‘scared for my life’ during the incident and now carries a panic button with her.
The couple were jailed for eight weeks after pleading guilty to a racially aggravated assault.
Michael Bairstow, 77, told Apple Moorhouse to ‘go back to your dinghy’ in a vile video
Fyona Bairstow, 72, made a reference to slavery and mocked Ms Moorhouse’s father, saying: ‘You can’t even speak English’
Ms Moorhouse who is a British citizen, had moved to the UK from the Philippines in 2009.
The NHS worker had been in the park with her father and six-year-old daughter at 1.20pm on August 28 2025.
The court heard the Bairstows were out with their dog, which was ‘running free’ and ‘wasn’t on a lead’.
Mr Davies said the dog went up to Apple’s child and began barking, scaring her, so she intervened.
The Bairstows approached and Ms Moorhouse, who had been in the play area but was heading back due to it raining heavily, said to Mr Bairstow, ‘your dog should be on a lead because it’s been running up to everyone’, the court heard.
Ms Moorhouse told the couple she was a healthcare worker and Mrs Bairstow called her a ‘stupid b****’.
A statement from Ms Moorhouse, read in court, said: ‘When I tried to walk away, the female pulled me back by my ponytail causing my head to go backwards.
‘They were very racist towards me, they seemed to want to make everything a conversation about immigrants and calling me a slave.’
Ms Moorhouse sobbed in court as mobile phone footage of the incident was played in court.
It showed Michael Bairstow telling his dog to ‘get her, kill’ before picking up a dog bowl full of water and throwing it at her.
Fyona Bairstow then made a reference to slavery and mocked Ms Moorhouse’s father, saying: ‘You can’t even speak English.’
She also said: ‘I’ll make you so sick, you’ll wonder what is going on.’
Michael Bairstow asked Ms Moorhouse if she had ‘come from a rubber boat’ and repeatedly said: ‘Ban the immigrants.’
The court heard that Ms Moorhouse told the couple she was a healthcare worker and entitled to remain in the UK.
As she tried to walk away, Fyona Bairstow pulled her backwards by her ponytail.
The court heard that when another woman intervened and told Michael Bairstow to get away from Ms Moorhouse, he punched her to the left side of her face and said: ‘Sticking up for immigrants, who do you think you are?’
In mitigation, Raza Hussain, representing the Bairstows, said the incident was not pre-meditated.
He said the couple ‘fully accept the racial language they used was wholly inappropriate, which they deeply regret’.
Mr Hussain added: ‘The fact that this incident was circulated widely on social media and on national news has brought them significant embarrassment.’
In a victim personal statement read in court, Ms Moorhouse said she was ‘scared for my life’ during the incident and now carries a panic button with her.
Before magistrates retired to consider their decision, chairwoman of the bench Gill Arnold asked the couple to stand.
She said: ‘I just want to have a look at you… That kind of attitude and those words and the things you said to Ms Moorhouse is not something that comes out of the blue in a second; it’s something deeply rooted.
‘That somebody can be so vile and aggressive to somebody such as this young woman here – I can only think you must be extremely ashamed.’
Ms Arnold added: ‘I’m glad you are hanging your head, and we’ll be extremely fair when we decide what’s going to happen to you, but I want you to know, as another human being, I feel sickened.
‘It’s just dreadful and you should be deeply ashamed.’
Michael Bairstow replied: ‘We are ashamed.’
Fyona Bairstow was seen trying to wrestle a phone off Apple Moorhouse in the now viral video
A magistrate told the couple that they should be ‘deeply ashamed’ of their behaviour, saying she felt ‘sickened’ by the abuse
Ms Arnold later said the couple would be jailed for eight weeks, saying the seriousness of the offence and the fact that children were present at the time meant only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified.
She also ordered each defendant to pay £175 compensation to Ms Moorhouse, and Michael Bairstow to pay £100 to the second complainant.
The couple, both of Shelf, Halifax, pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated assault against Ms Moorhouse.
Michael Bairstow also admitted assaulting the woman who tried to intervene.
After the pair pleaded guilty to the offences in March, Ms Moorhouse, who moved to the UK from the Philippines more than 15 years ago and is now a British citizen, told reporters she feels less safe after the incident and ‘keeps looking over my shoulder’.
‘I feel anxious obviously, every time that I think back, I feel upset,’ she said.
‘It’s a big thing, racism, and it needs to be dealt with.
‘I’ve been here since 2009 and never had anything like this before, for 10 years, it was fine but now it’s got worse.
‘I used to work in healthcare and I wanted to go back but I felt scared … this happened and I just didn’t go back.
‘Caring was my passion but then this happened and it was hard to go back.’
Ms Moorhouse added: ‘At their age they should know better, but obviously they didn’t.’
Speaking after the sentencing, Ms Moorhouse said: ‘It’s a clear message that we’re all equal, that racism is not acceptable.
‘Hopefully it will send a clear message that racism is a crime.’
She told reporters she had not been expecting the Bairstows to receive jail time, saying: ‘I can’t say I’m glad about it, I feel sorry for them.’
