Desi Mother Terrorised: Racist Bomb Hoaxer Jailed

Aaran Barden is behind bars today after a localized reign of terror in Middleton that saw a Desi Muslim woman and her young child targeted in a vile, racially motivated bomb hoax. The 33-year-old sparked absolute panic when he approached the family, claiming he had an explosive device in his bag and began a chilling ten-second countdown while a mother sat trapped in her vehicle.

The incident, which has sent shockwaves through the local South Asian community, began when Barden unleashed a volley of Islamophobic slurs at a taxi driver before turning his vitriol toward a group of Asian women on the street. The situation escalated rapidly as Barden zeroed in on a woman who was simply shopping with her seven-year-old daughter and sister-in-law. Witnesses described a harrowing scene as the man screamed for the family to "go back to their own country" and threatened to kill them, forcing the terrified victims to seek refuge in a nearby shop.

Even as staff moved the family to the back of the premises for their safety, Barden’s aggression did not waver. He attempted to breach the shop’s side door, spraying an inhaler into the building and maintaining the lie that he was prepared to "blow them up." The ordeal reached a breaking point when one of the women tried to escape to her car, only for Barden to kick the vehicle doors and begin his mock countdown, leaving the victim in genuine fear for her life until police arrived.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Barden, who has a history of racially aggravated harassment, was not taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication, Olanzapine, at the time of the attack. While his defense argued that his mental state has improved significantly while in custody and that he now feels "genuine remorse," Mr. Recorder Baird ruled that the severity of the psychological trauma inflicted on the victims necessitated immediate imprisonment.

What happens next is a period of post-release supervision for Barden, though the focus remains on the recovery of the victims. Community leaders often point to such cases as a reminder of the lasting impact of hate crimes on young children, like the seven-year-old girl forced to witness her mother being threatened with death. Barden has been sentenced to 16 months in prison, a move intended to signal a zero-tolerance policy for targeted racial abuse in West Yorkshire.