'Gay murder inquiries marred by homophobia'

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Scotland Yard: 'institutional homophobia'

Stephen Lawrence: victim of a racist murder

Scotland Yard investigations into murders and violent attacks in the gay community have been marred by "institutional" homophobia, a new report claims.

An independent review into how Met police handled a series of murders involving gay men and transsexuals found officers were hampered by a lack of knowledge and personal prejudices.

The findings echo criticism of officers after the disastrous investigation-into the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The report was sanctioned by the Met and written by its independent Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans-gender Advisory Group (LGBT AG). The five members involved in the research will be given a commendation today by a police commander.

The report studied 10 murders between 1990 and 2002, including five by Colin Ireland, who killed gay men he met in the pub.

It notes improvements since the Nineties, but calls for better intelligence to track known and potentially violent homophobes and better safeguard places used by the gay community. It also calls for a more effective system for warning people when locations become dangerous.

The report cites a comment after the unsolved murder of actor Michael Boothe in 1990, when a senior officer said: "A person born with any sort of colour doesn't have a choice in the matter. I would suggest that sexual preferences, however, are a matter of individual choice."

Bob Hodgson, co-chairman of the review, told the Guardian: "Things were awful but now they are better.

"Prosecutions are improving all the time. But our main point is prevention. Preventing these murders from taking place is better than having the most brilliant prosecution."

 

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