UK: Two men jailed for throwing gay man in river, calling him ‘queer’
Two men have been jailed for attacking a 36-year-old gay man and throwing him in the River Humber.
Serial offenders Kallum Crosby, 20 – who had been released from prison just one day earlier – and Jamie Norris, 22, attacked the victim in January this year because of his sexual orientation.
The Daily Mail reports the man could have drowned if the tide had been in.
During the hearing, prosecutor Philip Standfast spoke of how the pair followed the victim, before trying to grab his phone.
They then told the man, who had left a club after a dispute with his partner, that he was “going nowhere” – before rifling through his pockets and shouting “You fucking queer!”
Crosby and Norris then pushed the man into the river.
Mr Standfast said: “He landed in thick mud and was naked from the waist up. He could not move his feet and was covered in thick mud.
“It was dark and he was alone and he did not know where he was. He saw both of the defendants were laughing at his predicament.
“Fortunately they had not taken his telephone. He called police and the emergency services were fortunate in being able to find him in the dark and extract him from the mud.”
The victim was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary where he was treated for a cut to the eye and other cuts and bruises.
Meanwhile, the two men went to a takeaway restaurant in Hull’s old town and boasted about what they had done.
Mr Standfast said: “Crosby told a woman behind the counter they had just pushed a man in the river because he was gay.
“The assistant thought at first they were joking, but saw they had mud on their clothing.
“They said they had left him in the river and did not know if he had drowned. Crosby said they weren’t bothered.
“The woman asked her his name and he told her and said he had just been released from prison.”
Crosby – who has 48 previous convictions – and Norris both pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted robbery.
Crosby was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and Norris three years and nine months.
