Man threatened at dogging spot

A MAN was threatened by a homophobic thug with a hammer and two Staffordshire bull terriers when his car broke down at a notorious dogging spot.

The stranded motorist, whose radiator had overheated, was terrified when the man approached him at the site in South Wales, “brandishing” the hammer.

London’s Court of Appeal heard that the man told him: “You’re a f ****** gay b ***** d, I know what you do. I’ll put my hammer through your f ****** head, I’ll put my f ****** dogs on you.”

After seeing the driver’s wedding ring, the thug Robert John demanded to know the name of his wife “so he could report to her what a dirty b ****** he was”.

Window cleaner John, 33, of Caer Hen Eglwys, Cefn Glas, Bridgend, threatened to set two Staffordshire bull terriers on the man, the court heard.

The victim made off in his vehicle, but John trailed him in his own car for some distance.

John later claimed the other man had “touched him on the bottom and sexually propositioned him” whilst he had been innocently walking his dogs.

John, who handed himself into police days later, was jailed for two years two months at Cardiff Crown Court in April after he pleaded guilty to threatening a person with an offensive weapon.

His explanation that the man had propositioned him was rejected after a special hearing before the judge who jailed him.

But appeal judge, Sir Nicholas Blake, sitting with Sir David Calvert and Lord Justice Davies, has now reduced his sentence to 18 months.

The court heard that the incident took place in “an area known to be a meeting place for gay men.”

Lawyers for John tried to persuade the court that he ought to have escaped jail and been given a suspended sentence.

Sir Nicholas rejected that argument, ruling that John had been rightly locked up.

“He had gone to the site with homophobic intent, having equipped himself with a hammer and having two dogs with him.

“This was a serious case of threatening harm, that must have been terrifying for the victim.

“It involved not only a hammer, but possession of two dogs capable of being aggressive.”

But, going on to cut John’s sentence, Sir Nicholas said: “There was no actual violence inflicted and the dogs were not let off the leash.”