Gloucester: Teenager sentenced over anti-gay park attack

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A teenager who screamed homophobic insults at a college student has been sentenced to 12 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution.

Joel Campbell, 18, of Emerald Close, Tuffley, also stole Andrew Macey’s mobile phone and wallet.

Mr Macey, who is also 18, was mugged in Gloucester Park, just yards from his house in January of this year.

Gloucester Crown Court heard how Campbell grabbed the victim by the throat and pushed him against metal railings, bruising his back in the process.

Mr Macey is now afraid to go outside and says the attack has ruined his opinion of Gloucester.

In an interview with the Gloucestershire Echo, the video games design student said: “I grew up in a rough area of Kent and nothing like this has ever happened to me before”.

He added: “I was shocked that something like that happened to me here, and it has definitely changed the way I see the area. It has left me scared to walk outside the house on my own.

“I don’t walk through the park anymore I go the long way around.”

Mr Macey and his fiancé Mark Griffiths are now desperate to move to another part of the city.

Campbell was arrested after the couple used a GPS device to track the stolen mobile phone to a shop, and then alerted police.

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