Gay couple: Attack won’t make us quit capital

A YOUNG gay couple pepper-sprayed for kissing at a bus stop in Brixton say they won’t be forced out of London.

Charity worker Matthew, 23, and his boyfriend were doused without warning by a stranger who told them: “We don’t want your kind around here.”

Bodycam footage from a paramedic shows the couple fearing they’d be permanently blinded in the incident outside KFC in Brixton Road at 4am.

Scotland Yard today released images of their suspected attacker, who was with four others on January 19. Police are linking the assault to a second minutes earlier inside the restaurant where a corrosive spray was used on two other males.

Matthew, who did not want his surname published, said: “We were being quite affectionate to each other, kissing, holding hands... Suddenly from nowhere this guy just came and sprayed something directly in my eyes.

“I fell to the ground. I thought I was never going to see again. I thought I was going to be blind. The pain was just really intense.”

The attack was so serious that the couple had to be rushed to hospital by medics to have their eyes cleaned. Matthew’s partner, also 23, who works in media, said: “For me, nothing has changed. If anything, I’m bolder. I’m not being forced out of London.”

Detective Inspector Dave Adams said five men were inside the nearby KFC restaurant shortly before the attack.

Ac c o rd i n g t o C i t y Ha l l figures released last week, anti-gay crimes recorded by the Met increased by 81 per cent from 1,276 in 2011 to 2,307 last year. Transgender hate crimes soared by 261 per cent over the same period to 213 in 2018.

Westminster, Lambeth, Hackney, Southwark and Camden had the most recorded hate crime offences.