Police appeal for info on homophobic attack on London bus
Police are looking for a man who allegedly fired an onslaught of homophobic insults at three bus passengers prior to assaulting them.
The incident, which took place on March 25, led to a man reportedly attacking three passengers when they asked him to stop using homophobic remarks.
The man was said to be swearing and hurling anti-gay insults on the N87 night bus service on Wandsworth Road, in Lambeth, London, at 4:15am.
Hate crimes affect LGBT+ people across the UK (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty)
Police are appealing to the general public to find the man who allegedly carried out the attack.
“This man is sought in connection with a homophobic assault on a bus,” Detective Constable Sarah Bunting of the Met’s Road & Transport Policing Command told The Gay UK.
“If you know who this man is, or may be able to assist us in our investigation, please call 101 and quote CAD 1045/25Mar18.
A police car (Getty)
“The Met will not tolerate any form of hate crime and we strongly urge anyone who has been a victim of this sort of situation to call police and report it.”
A study has found that alcohol is a large motivator in carrying out hate crimes.
Researchers at Cardiff University carried out interviews with 124 people who had sought emergency treatment following violent attacks across the UK.
The study, Injury resulting from targeted violence: An emergency department perspective, was published in the journal of Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health and found a strong link between homophobic violence and drunkenness.
Review says gender and age should be recognised as aggravating factors in hate crimes (Photo by Robert Perry/Getty)
According to the researchers, 18.5 percent of people admitted considered themselves to have been victims of hate crimes motivated by prejudice.
Of those, 90 percent said that alcohol intoxication was a factor in the attack.
An alcoholic drinks can, discarded by late night drinkers, litters the street (Matt Cardy/Getty)
LGBT+ victims of hate crime still struggle to come forward when they are attacked.
According to Galop, 72 percent of their 2017 respondents experiencing online hate crime had not reported their most recent experience to the police.
