Hi my name is Roy I work for Lead the Way an information and advice service for people with a learning disability, and I am here to share my story on my real life experience of hate crime.
I moved to Blackpool from Halifax many years ago to be closer to my family. When I moved there I had a social worker and rented my own flat which wasn’t in the most suitable area for myself as I did not feel completely safe in this environment.
One evening, after visiting my family I was walking home late at night with my cousin, in order to get home, I had to walk through the town centre where I came across four lads in their early twenties who made me feel extremely uncomfortable. It seems that they had been drinking as they came out of the pub.
They came over in a group and started to make fun of me for no reason, I tried to ignore them and carry on walking home. This seemed to frustrate them, one of the individuals pushed me to the ground I was shocked and seemed to freeze. As I was on the ground they were calling me nasty names including using homophobic slurs. It didn’t just stop there they then began to attack me by kicking and punching me all over while I was on the ground, I was held down by one of them with his foot on my face so I couldn’t move.
I was so scared I was crying and just wanted them to leave me alone as I couldn’t understand what I had done? I remember fearing that they may have had a weapon, which made me fear for my life.
My cousin managed to get away, he tried running for help. Luckily, where the attack took place there was CCTV which signalled to the emergency services and got the whole attack on camera.
Next thing I remember is hearing sirens and two police cars arrived in quick time. I felt so relived that they turned up. An ambulance also turned up at the same time to take me to the hospital. At the hospital they examined me and I had bruises and cuts all over my body. They said I was extremely lucky as if the attack continued I would have ended up with a cauliflower ear.
The police were great and supported me after the attack. All four of the individuals were arrested and charged with two offences, disability discrimination and homophobic discrimination. They attempted to plead not guilty despite the whole event being captured on camera and the evidence being overwhelming. This meant it had to go to court for a jury to determine the outcome. All four were denied bail.
It was decided by the prosecutor that they would not call me into court so I would not have to face them. However, they took me to what looked like an ordinary house where I was made very comfortable. They then took a video of me where the prosecution would ask questions about what happened and how it made me feel. The court decided that I didn’t need to be cross examined.
The jury found delivered a verdict of guilty for all four men on both counts of discriminatory and homophobic. They all received a prison sentence, which the police said were lengthy sentences. One of the individuals did show remorse during court so he received a slightly lesser sentence. Two of the others got the maximum sentences and the final individual the judge classed him as the ring leader so his sentence was even more severe.
The police were supportive and checked in on me every evening for some time afterwards. It was determined that Blackpool wasn’t a safe place for me to live due to my vulnerability. They contacted Calderdale authorities and it was determined that I would move back to Calderdale and the authorities would continue supporting me, as this is the safest place for me.