A drunken thug has been jailed for stamping on the heads of a lesbian couple in a vile homophobic attack.

Ross Paterson, of rural Lanarkshire, was jailed today over the attack, which took place in Penrith, Scotland.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that Paterson targeted Laura Price and her girlfriend Yazmin Wood in a violent attack.

According to the BBC, Paterson shouted homophobic abuse at the couple before the violent attack.

He viciously beat the two women. After Miss Price attempted to shield her girlfriend from the attack, she was thrown to the ground.

She was left with blood “spurting” from her head after Paterson stamped on her head.

Both women suffered horrendous injuries in the attack.

The women, aged 30 and 22 from Penrith, sustained serious injuries that required hospital treatment.

Paterson pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, and was jailed for two years and four months.

DC Lyndsey Dalton of North Cumbria CID, said: “I am pleased that Paterson has been brought before the courts to answer for his actions.

“His victims were left injured, scared, and distressed from their ordeal, describing it as ‘evil’.

“I hope today’s sentencing acts as a warning that this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable, and we will bring offenders to justice.”

According to the BBC, Judge Peter Davies said: “They were both defenceless, and you attacked them because they were in a same sex relationship.”

Stats released today revealed a shocking surge of homophobic hate crime.

The statistics, released by the Home Office today, revealed that all types of hate crime surged in 2016/17.

Across all types of hate crime, reports surged from 62,518 the year before to 80,393.

There was also a large rise for homophobic hate crime, which is the second most commonly recorded type of hate crime behind racism.

Reports of hate crimes relating to sexual orientation surged by a massive 27 percent in just one year, from 7,194 to 9,157.