Martin Gray, 42, spoke at an investigation into the death of his partner Malcolm Bryan, 67, a month after Bryan was beaten to death in a brutal anti-gay attack in southern England: “Mr Bryan and Mr Gray were getting into a lift in Wimpole Court, Landport, Portsmouth, when the man began shouting homophobic abuse. He said ‘hello boys’ and asked if they were going to show him a good time. The man then punched Mr Gray in the nose. Mr Gray said he and Mr Bryan climbed into the lift and fought to keep the man out as he tried to force his way in. When they reached the third floor, Mr Gray said Mr Bryan walked on ahead, calling police on his mobile phone to report what had happened. Unable to keep up because of a leg injury Mr Gray became separated. But the next time he saw his partner he was lying at the bottom of concrete steps between the second and third floors of Wimpole Court and adjoining Crown Court, in Crown Street, where they lived. Mr Bryan had suffered terrible injuries and was dying.” Police are continuing to investigate.
Closer to London, authorities are warning gay men in Croydon that there have been several attacks near a cruising area there. Said the LGBT liaison officer in the police force, Jeff Wade: “It’s an ongoing thing. I hear of this happening all the time but people are very reluctant to report it. Because they have been intimate with the suspects, the victims have been at their most vulnerable. They are embarrassed because and have not wanted to go public. Or they might have families and would not want to give evidence in a potential court case. We had one man come to us to say he’d been liaising with a chap on Shirley Hills when the guy in question jumped into the victim’s car and said, give me a lift’. Reluctantly he did and the next thing he knew a knife was pulled out and the guy tried to steal his car. These crimes could be happening because the suspect knows there is a great possibility victims are not going to come forward.”
