Figures show 28% rise in London anti-gay hate attacks
A month after a teenage girl was jailed for the manslaughter of a gay man, new figures have shown a rise in reported anti-gay hate attacks in London.
According to the Evening Standard, reported incidents rose by 28 per cent in the last four years.
The latest figures show 1,545 homophobic incidents reported to police in London last year. Four years ago there were 1,208 homophobic cases.
Dee Doocey, a Liberal Democrat member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, who obtained the figures, told the Standard that the rise could not just be down to better reporting.
She said: “Some of the rise may be down to an increase in reporting of incidents, but I fear this may not be the full explanation.
“It seems only now that we are starting to discover the real numbers of such serious offences.”
Racist attacks also increased from 9,617 four years ago to 10,268 last year.
Last month, 18-year-old Ruby Thomas and 20-year-old Joel Alexander were jailed for seven and six years respectively for killing 62-year-old gay man Ian Baynham as he walked through Trafalgar Square.
Thomas was given a heavier sentence because she had hurled homophobic abuse at Mr Baynham as she kicked him while he lay unconscious on the ground.
