Thug in ‘vile’ attack on gay couple
ASAME-SEX couple say they are now terrified about holding hands in public – after a thug urinated on them and punched them on board a train in a ‘degrading’ homophobic attack.
Jamie Shaw from New Mills was jailed for 28 months following the vile incident on a service at Piccadilly Station.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the hate-filled attack had traumatised the lesbian couple from Dukinfield – one of whom was knocked out in the assault.
The couple, both aged in their 40s, had boarded a train home after enjoying a night out in the city centre on January 30 last year.
Shaw, 26, was drunk and with a group of friends, who entered the same carriage.
Prosecuting, Brett Wilson said one of Shaw’s group shouted ‘What is it with you lesbians?.’
Shocked at the question, the couple replied courteously.
But Shaw then approached and proceeded to urinate on them.
The couple jumped up and challenged Shaw, only for him to punch one of the women on the nose and her partner in the eye, knocking her out.
In a powerful victim impact statement, one of the woman stated: “I cry in the bath when I’m on my own from my partner. I don’t want to upset her.
“Every time we used to go out we used to hold hands but now we are worried about the reaction from people.”
Shaw, of Buxton Road, previously pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.
The two women were forced to give evidence at a hearing last month because Shaw disputed facts of the prosecution case.
A count of assault was ordered to lie on file.
Speaking at the sentencing hearing, Ian Johnstone, defending, said his client did not hold homophobic views and was ‘disgusted’ with his own behaviour.
He said Shaw was drunk at the time, and that he doesn’t remember anything of the incident.
But Recorder Mark Ainsworth described it as a ‘disgusting and degrading act.’
He added: “This is Manchester in 2017, and frankly the thought of that being a factor still is quite distressing.”
“These two ladies were minding their own business and doing nobody any harm.
“The fact that someone could do that in those circumstances is frankly almost unbelievable.”
‘These two ladies were minding their own business and doing nobody any harm’