Healthcare Boss Mocked Woman With Tourette's And Called Her A 'S**z'

After spotting a woman with Tourette syndrome at a store, the boss of a healthcare company made fun of her.

The disabled woman was shopping with a companion in a Morrisons in Bacup, Lancashire, when she walked past Paul Halliday and felt an arm tic.

Halliday, 52, responded by openly ridiculing her by slamming his hands together, a taunt commonly used to make fun of people with disabilities, according to Lancs Live.

(Image: James Maloney/Lancs Live)

Halliday allegedly called the woman a s**z and told her that "people like you shouldn't be let out," according to testimony presented at Blackburn Magistrates' Court.

The nasty outburst was such a trigger for the woman Halliday was abusing that she started having seizures as a result.

The woman's companion intervened to help the women, but Halliday apparently ignored their efforts until a grocery employee threatened to ban him from entering.

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The CCTV footage that documented the event was played for the court. Halliday, though, disputed claims that he was acting in a threatening manner.

Halliday acknowledged using the word "s**z," but he disputed that his actions or comments were meant to frighten or distress the women.

Halliday, whose business, Halliday Healthcare Ltd., offers handicap equipment, was sentenced to a six-month curfew and told to pay $243 in damages, $792 in court costs, and $115 in victim surcharge.

“It’s been made worse by the fact he works for a healthcare company,” the victim's mum said.

“The whole thing is really distressing and he has dragged it out for as long as he could. He had more than one opportunity to admit what he had done.”

The mother said that her daughter had not left the house since being given a diagnosis of a functional neurological disorder that results in uncontrollable bodily twitches and vocal tics.

On the unusual occasion of Halliday's verbal assault, the woman had chosen to push herself to go out for the first time since getting her diagnosis.

Women with tics that can be put on by stress were greatly impacted by the incident.

The mum added: “She now has multiple seizures every day, which never happened before the incident.”

“Developing a neurological condition in her early 20s has been distressing enough, but to be subjected to this kind of treatment by someone who should know better is appalling.”