Two Guilty Of Homophobic Killing

Two teenagers have been found guilty of manslaughter after they subjected a 62-year-old man on a night out to a violent homophobic assault in Trafalgar Square that led to his death.

After a three-week trial at the Old Bailey Joel Alexander, now 20, from Thornton Heath, in south London and Ruby Thomas, now 18, from Penge, south east London, were found guilty of Ian Baynham's manslaughter.

Thomas was also convicted of an individual charge of affray.

A third defendant, Rachael Burke, now 18, from south east London, was acquitted of manslaughter, but previously found guilty of affray. She was acquitted of a separate charge of actual bodily harm against 30-year-old Phillip Brown, a friend of Ian Baynham who was with him on the night.

Sentencing has been adjourned to a date in January 2011.

Police were originally called at approximately 22:45hrs on the night of the attack. Ian, an openly gay man, and his friend Phillip, had enjoyed an evening out in Soho to celebrate Ian's new job with the UK Border Agency.

The pair had just got off the No. 24 bus in Trafalgar Square and were making their way to Charing Cross Station to go home when they encountered the three teenagers just before the corner with Duncannon Street.

Half an hour before the main incident, the two girls were restrained by friends during an altercation with a large group of young teenage boys also out in the Square.

The court heard how an altercation sparked by Thomas shouting homophobic abuse at Ian resulted in the civil servant being punched to the ground by Alexander then kicked and stamped on by the two girls on 25 September last year.

His friend Phillip also became subject to violence and was punched several times in the face.

Ian, from Beckenham, Kent, was taken to the Royal London Hospital in a coma from which he never recovered. His life support machine was switched off on Tuesday 13 October. A subsequent post-mortem gave cause of death as head injuries. The impact of the blow from Alexander was still visible to the pathologist more than two weeks after it was struck.

George Richardson, long-term close friend of Ian, said: "Ian's death resulted from an attack motivated by homophobia. Mindless violence generated by a total absence of tolerance and fuelled, as we now so often see, by alcohol. It has pointlessly robbed myself and others of an excellent friend.”

DI Paul Barran, who led the investigation for the Metropolitan Police, said: "The dark shadow of that evening's events will remain with those involved for a long time, and as shown by the court today, there is no place whatsoever in our society for any type of aggressive, abusive confrontational behaviour, or homophobic crime."

Detective Superintendent Darren Williams, of the Violent Crime Directorate at the MPS, added: "The MPS is resolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, and will continue to work closely with partners and engage with LGBT communities through local Safer Neighbourhoods teams and specialised LGBT liaison officers in our efforts to increase confidence. We hope this will encourage more victims to report incidents so that we can better understand and investigate them and thus bring more perpetrators to justice."

(BMcN/GK)