A 16-year-old boy who harassed a lesbian couple on a night bus and then stole one of their handbags has today been left off with a referral order.

Melania Ramirez, a 28-year-old doctor from Uruguay, and Christine Hannigan, from the US, were subjected to homophobic slurs and gestures by a group of teenagers on the N31 in Camden, northwest London, on May 30.

Shocking CCTV of the incident showed the pair surrounded and hit with coins as the 16-year-old boy and two other males, aged 15 and 17, terrorised the women for nine minutes.

The three teenagers admitted targeting the women shortly before they were due to go on trial last month.

Appearing at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court today, the 16-year-old was given an eight-month youth referral order, increased from six months due to the homophobic nature of the attack.

Melania Ramirez (right), 28, released this image of her with Christine Hannigan covered in blood, after they were attacked by a group of young men on a London bus

A referral order requires offenders to attend a youth offender panel, usually made up of two members of the local community and an advisor from a youth offending team, to negotiate how they will address their behavioiur.

The youth, who cannot be named due to his age, admitted using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress against the two women. He was also fined £100 and ordered to pay a £20 surcharge.

He also admitted theft of Ms Ramirez's handbag and handling Ms Hannigan's stolen phone. Both the handbag and phone were later recovered after the 16-year-old was arrested at his south London home.

Andrew Mooney, mitigating, said the 16-year-old had not thrown coins or made homophobic gestures like his co-defendants.

CCTV footage showed the youths attacking the two women, who struggle to remain standing during the horrific attack

But chair magistrate Peter Bullet uplifted the sentence due to the homophobic nature of the incident in general.

Mr Bullet said: 'By all accounts this was an unpleasant situation with offences committed by a large group in the early hours in a public space against two women on their own.

'It would seem it was both a homophobic trigger and the context for this offending behaviour.'

Addressing the court after his sentencing as part of a restorative justice programme, the 16-year-old accepted he had hurt the two victims as well as his own family and friends.

Melania Geymonat (left), 28, and her American partner Christine Hannigan

When asked to explain how he could make it up to the people he had hurt, the teenager replied: 'Show them that's not the person I am.'

Dr Ramirez - who used the name Melania Geymonat at the time of the attack - had shared a photograph of herself and her partner covered in blood after the incident which was reported across the globe.

The attackers had surrounded the women on the top deck of the bus before making crude gestures with their fingers.

Ms Hannigan pretended to be sick in an apparent bid to discourage the group before they began throwing coins at her and her partner.

Maria Slater, prosecuting, told the court today: 'Ms Christine Hannigan and Melania Ramirez were making their way home by use of public transport on a public bus.

'[The youth] got on the bus with his friends before the two girls did.

'He and his friends went to the upper deck of the bus and sat at the rear of the bus.

'Shortly after that Christine Hannigan and Melania Ramirez also got on the bus going towards Camden Town.

'The two girls had been out together for the evening and they were sitting together and being affectionate towards each other.

'The group of males then at some point walked down and stood to the side and sat behind the two girls.

Miss Ramirez before the attack, left, and showing her injuries, right

During an interview with BBC London says after the incident, Miss Hannigan could be seen with a black eye

'They are joined by another two males and effectively the group of six boys are around the two girls.

'Ms Hannigan stated that the group surrounded them and immediately started making references to their sexual orientation and saying things like 'are you lesbians?'

'She felt this term was used to taunt and degrade homosexual women. She said she began to feel invaded at the point.

'Ms Hannigan stated that she attempted to deflect the males' behaviour by being friendly initially partly out of fear for she and her female companions safety and that she did not engage with the males when they were trying to speak to her.

'At one point Ms Hannigan pretended she was going to be sick in an attempt to get the boys to stop speaking to them.

'However the group went on continuing to be disrespectful and continued insulting Ms Hannigan and Ms Ramirez.

'They asked them: 'how do you have sex?' and also asked them 'show us'.

'Both said they felt they wanted them to perform for them - that was their feelings.

'They also said that the group at some point tried to make them kiss and engage in some form of sexual activity and throughout continued to call them derogatory terms like 'lesbian'.

'One of the boys began to throw coins at them.

'One of the ladies said throw another coin and see what happens. He did this and at this point Ms Hannigan got up and went to confront one of the members of the group.

'Whilst this has been going on [this youth] has stolen Ms Ramirez's handbag which was in the seat.

'He was arrested on 30 May and refused to answer questions.'

Reading from Ms Ramirez' statement, Ms Slater said: 'I'm feeling so angry and so upset right now. I'm feeling such a strong pain.'

The prosecutor added: 'She said she felt hopeless at the time. I hope justice will be made and the police will be able to catch them.

'She believes that this only happened because she was a lesbian and they were lone females in the middle of the night.'

'The Crown would ask [the court] to uplift the sentence because of the homophobic statements that were made towards the victims.'

The 15-year-old is due to be sentenced for harassment and handling Ms Ramirez's stolen bank card at Highbury Corner Youth Court on Monday.