Brody's Notes... Jury Returns Guilty Verdict In London UK Hate Crime Trial

Joel Alexander & Ruby Thomas arriving before verdict. (L) The Victim, Ian Baynham (R) 

Photo Montage By The Daily Mail UK

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) DEC 16 | A British jury today convicted three adolescents in the beating & stomping crime death of 62 year old Ian Baynham last year in London's Trafalgar Square. Baynham, a civil servant who was also Gay, was set-upon by 18-year-old Rachael Burke, of Upper Norwood, south east London, Joel Alexander, 20, of Thornton Heath, south east London, and Ruby Thomas, 18, a former pupil at the £12,000-a-year Sydenham High School for Girls, who had a previous record for violence.

Jurors in the Old Bailey court heard testimony that Thomas, then just 15 when she assaulted a bus driver in Northumberland Avenue in December 2007, a short walk from where the attack on Mr Baynham took place, had screamed homophobic epithets and then assaulted Baynham after Alexander knocked Baynham to the pavement.

Witnesses testified that on the night of the assault in September last year, Thomas was said to have been "off her face", acting in a "lairy, mouthy" way, and flirting with random men. The court was told that Thomas screamed "f****** faggots" at the victim and his friend Philip Brown. The Queen's Counsel, Brian Altman, lead prosecutor in addressing the court with his opening statement said that when Baynham confronted Thomas, there was a scuffle during which she hit him with her handbag and he grabbed it. Alexander then ran up and knocked him to the ground, causing a severe brain injury as his head struck the pavement.

Altman in addressing the court said:

"That did not suffice. There is evidence that the female defendants then began putting the boot into Mr Baynham, who was still prone on his back, clearly unconscious and in distress."

He said the girls were "fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol" and one witness likened the attack to a scene from the film A Clockwork Orange.

"Shocked onlookers saw repeated stamping to his chest and forceful kicks to his head," said Mr Altman.

Metropolitan Police detectives later found Baynham's blood smeared on her handbag and the shoes she was wearing during the attack. The jury also heard testimony that Thomas smiled as she "put the boot into" Mr Baynham after he was knocked to the ground by Joel Alexander.

After lengthy deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against both Alexander and Thomas, the third defendant, 18-year-old Rachael Burke, was found guilty of a lesser crime at an earlier trial.
Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of the London based LGBT Equality Rights organisation Stonewall, said:

"We welcome this verdict and urge the judge to take into consideration the homophobic element of this crime when sentencing.

The perpetrators of this homophobic crime were educated in Britain’s education system within the last five years – demonstrating how much more needs to be done to tackle homophobia in our schools before it festers into violence on the streets."

Paul Martin, Chief Executive of The Lesbian & Gay Foundation said:

“This is a hugely important result, but it is still greatly upsetting that we live in a society where these crimes are still happening and that Ian Baynham is no longer with us.

The three accused of attacking Mr Baynham were still teenagers at the time of the attack, not long out of the UK education system, highlighting the work that needs to be done in all schools, other young peoples' settings and throughout society to change attitudes, promote understanding and challenge homophobia.

The three teenagers were involved in the most heinous of attacks on Ian Baynham, which all started with homophobic abuse. But today’s ruling sends out an important message, that prejudice won’t be tolerated, that homophobic hate crimes are treated seriously and that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people should have the confidence to report hate crimes.

Our thoughts are with Ian's family and friends."