A man told his 16-year-old victim “I am going to choke you out if you are gay” before beating and strangling him in an unprovoked homophobic attack.
Marc Bevan, 39, of Kirkfield Grove, Rock Ferry, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, detailed that in November 2021, a 16-year-old boy and his friends were on Southport Pier when one of them made a joke which was overheard by the defendant who was sitting nearby on a bench.
Bevan stood up and said to the teenagers “what did you just say to me”, and called the victim a “f****t”. The victim told him the joke was not about him, and that slur was not an acceptable word to use, but Bevan responded aggressively.
