The two youths left their victim gasping for breath while they were drunk on Lambrini

Two youths who attacked a 19-year-old on a train and forced him to apologise for being gay while drunk on Lambrini have been spared a custodial sentence.

The two defendants, aged 16 and 17, threatened the young man and a female friend after spotting them travelling to a fancy dress party on the Jubilee Line for Halloween.

The 16-year-old held the male victim in a headlock, leaving him gasping for breath, and forced him to apologise about his sexuality during the incident at around 11.20pm on October 21 last year, Bexley Youth Court heard.

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The defendants, along with a third male who has never been identified, had stood directly in front of the victims when they boarded the train, despite the carriage being empty.




They were all drinking from bottles of Lambrini, the court heard.

A 25-year-old woman, a friend of the first victim, was punched and pushed to the ground by the older defendant when she tried to intervene, said prosecutor Samantha Mitchell, although the blow was aimed at another member of her group.

The pair were not arrested until April this year following an appeal by the British Transport Police.

On Friday, the 16-year-old admitted assault by beating of the male victim, while his co-defendant admitted using threatening language towards the 25-year-old woman, but was not charged with assaulting her.

The victims, who were both in costume, were travelling westbound when the defendants boarded the train at West Ham and immediately began abusing them and using homophobic slurs.

Both victims managed to film some of the assault on their mobile phones, although at one stage the young man’s phone was snatched from him.

Ms Mitchell said: ‘The victim had a headband on, some shorts and a top and a jacket on, so all you could see was his bare legs.

‘He had not seen any of the males before, they all had large bottles of Lambrini in their hands and they positioned themselves in the aisle in front of them.’

Ms Mitchell said the boys started using homophobic insults such as ‘faggot’ and ‘queer’, and became violent when one of his friends told them that it was not acceptable.

She continued: ‘He felt a right arm around his neck, gripping really tightly, he felt like he was being strangled and was struggling to breathe.

‘A male took his phone out of his hand, and another male said ‘f*cking apologise you f*cking queer’.’

The victim’s phone was returned to him and the group left the train at North Greenwich, where they reported the incident to police.

In statements, both victims said the assaults had left them anxious on public transport, while the male victim said he had suffered panic attacks.

He said: ‘I don’t think I deserve to be assaulted simply for being gay, and in this day and age I would have expected society to be more accepting.’

The court heard that the younger defendant is due to sit his GCSEs this summer and plans to train as a mechanic, while the 17-year-old is training as a bricklayer.



When questioned by magistrate Glenford Shipley-Younan, both boys apologised and said they had been very drunk at the time of the incident – but have since quit alcohol.

The 16-year-old has no previous convictions, while the older boy has one conviction for possession of cannabis.

Ordering them to attend youth offender meetings for 12 months, Mr Shipley-Younan said: ‘You are both in court for a very nasty and unprovoked attack on a train late at night on people who were just going about their social evening.

‘The people who were attacked and abused by yourselves would have been extremely upset and frightened by that behaviour.

‘Both of you said you had been drinking that night, therefore your inhibitions had been lost. This must not happen again.’

He told them had they been older they would have probably faced a custodial sentence.

‘You have hurt a lot of people by your actions, think about things before you act and stay off the alcohol,’ he said.

Both boys were ordered to pay £150 compensation to their victims as well as £20 each in costs.

They were both accompanied by their parents.