Gay man’s killer to be sentenced
A 42-year-old man who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the managing director of a research consultancy specialising in gay and lesbian issues will be sentenced next week.
Tony Hoare, 49, was attacked in September as he walked his two Jack Russell dogs in Charlton Park, south east London.
He was found unconscious and died shortly after being taken to hospital.
Leslie Kingshott, 42, admitted manslaughter at the Old Bailey on 20th December and is due to be sentenced by the Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont QC, on 7th January.
Mr Hoare founded research consultancy Stormbreak nine years ago.
It conducts projects within mainstream areas of research and services organisations and companies with an interest in lesbian and gay issues and the “pink economy.”
He had recently published a report that claimed there was wide underreporting of homophobic crime in London.
“The main reason for not reporting homophobic crime was because the incident had been considered insufficiently serious,” his report, Homophobic Crime in London, read.
“Commonplace verbal abuse, for example, was hardly ever reported. This suggests that the London lesbian and gay community simply puts up with insults, threats and ridicule in public and (as often identified) in the workplace as a fact of everyday life.”
Before embarking on a career in market research, Mr Hoare lectured for five years at colleges of further education.
