Woman ‘punches gay couple and douses them with hot coffee’ on the Tube
British Transport Police are searching for this person in connection with the attack on a gay couple (british transport police)
A gay couple has allegedly been punched and had hot coffee thrown on them on the London Underground.
The victims, who got on a Hammersmith & City line train at Plaistow around 7:25am on August 9 2018, were attacked by a woman after asking her whether she could move her bag to allow them to sit down, the British Transport Police (BTP) has reported.
During the verbal altercation which resulted from this question, the woman allegedly shouted homophobic abuse at the gay partners.
She proceeded to throw a cup of coffee at the men and subject one of them to several punches in the face.
The gay victims were allegedly attacked after asking the woman whether she could move her bag to allow them to sit down (Jack Taylor/Getty)
The woman is reported to have departed the train at Bromley by Bow station, two stops after the gay couple got on.
One of the gay victims was left with a swollen lip and minor injuries to the arm, the Evening Standard has reported.
The authorities have released a picture of the woman—seen above—and are calling on anyone who recognises her or who witnessed the incident to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 and quoting reference 143 of 9/08/18.
Gay people have been attacked before on the Tube
In July last year, Will Mayrick—who was forced to apologise for being gay by two teenagers in a homophobic hate crime on a London Underground train in October 2017—spoke out about his experiences.
Mayrick was held in a chokehold by his attackers, aged 16 and 17, who were spared jail and ordered to pay £150 compensation each to the victim, in addition to £20 each in costs.
“I don’t feel like justice was served”
— Will Mayrick
They were also both handed 12-month referral orders to a youth offender programme, but Mayrick said this wasn’t enough.
“I don’t feel like justice was served,” said the victim.
“I don’t feel it sets a very good example that homophobia completely isn’t acceptable, but that’s obviously what the court decided.”
In April 2018, police put out an appeal after a homophobic incident at Bank station in central London.
The authorities reported that a man “started yelling homophobic abuse at two men who were waiting for a Northern Line train.”
The two men reportedly “moved to a different area of the platform and boarded a train,” but the man continued to verbally abuse them.
And last month, a construction boss who shouted homophobic abuse at a Transport for London worker and pushed another London Underground employee towards the train tracks escaped jail.
Site manager Scott O’Brien subjected TfL employee Gustavo Gonzalez to homophobic slurs after he was asked to move away from the edge of the Baker Street platform on September 7, then hit Gonzalez with a rolled-up newspaper and asked him: “Are you a funny c**t?”
He was spared jail and instead sentenced to a 12 month community order, including carrying out 120 hours of unpaid work.
O’Brien, of Wormley, Hertfordshire, was also ordered to pay £965 in court costs and victim surcharges.
