Richard Kennedy had posted this picture (right) on his Facebook page claiming he had been the victim of a violent homophobic attack after a night out in Preston (Picture: Richard Kennedy / Facebook / Cavendish)

A student who claimed he was the victim of a violent homophobic attack on a night out has admitted that he just fell over.

The story of Richard Kennedy, an 18-year-old theatre student, had been shared 160,000 times after he posted graphic pictures of his bloody injuries on Facebook.

‘An example why homophobia is wrong and it’s disgusting that it’s still around in 2014,’ is how the teenager described the attack that left him with severely broken teeth, a cut and bruised face and a painful looking knee wound.

After the alleged attack outside a gay bar in Preston on February 26 police had appealed for information about what they called a ‘particularly nasty assault’.




Mr Kennedy claimed he was verbally abused by a gang of men, pushed to the ground and then stamped on outside the Evoque nightclub.

But a CCTV recording has subsequently shown that the University of Central Lancashire student had in fact simply tripped over on the walk home.

‘We managed to recover some CCTV footage which shows the injured party falling face-first onto the pavement,’ explained Detective Inspector Paddy O’Neill.

After seeing the images Mr Kennedy accepted his injuries were caused during the fall but will not be charged for wasting police time.

‘Having had oversight of the investigation since its inception and taking into account the full circumstances, I accept his report was made in good faith,’ concluded DI O’Neill.