'Attacks on gay people increasing'

Nov 14 2008 By Vicki Eltis

Gino Meriano

Reports of hate crimes against homosexuals are increasing in the wake of a high-profile murder case, says Gino Meriano of Gay Surrey.

Mr Meriano, who is chairman of the charity and support service Gay Surrey, says reports of hate crimes have been flooding his switchboard since Walton gardener Mark Malone was convicted this month of fatally stabbing 50-year-old gay man Jeff Akers in toilets by Walton Bridge.

He said: "In the last 10 days we have received more than 15 calls of serious hate crime attacks. Hate crime is getting worse - I thought it was improving but it is getting bad."

Mr Meriano says although many victims call his charity, many of the incidents are not reported to police because of lack of faith in the justice system.

He is calling for more victims to speak out about their ordeals, adding: "I can help as much as I can by giving advice and third party reports to police but there is not much else we can do. I don't think Surrey Police are putting out the right communication channels for these victims. What are they doing to prevent it happening or helping those victims to get in touch with them?

"In the last four weeks we have received phone calls from three men over the age of 65 years old who have been victims. It has taken one man to get killed for some people to make a call and that maybe what is needed and now is the time for police to realise it is serious problem."

Detective Inspector Ben Lee, in charge of hate crime for Surrey Police, said: "We take hate crime very seriously and treat it as a priority when reported. This means we want to increase the reporting of incidents and take positive action wherever possible.

"Reporting incidents provides valuable information to the police that may lead to the arrest of the offenders and also enables the police to build up patterns of behaviour and areas of concern and assists with local hate crime projects.

"Anyone who provides personal details will be contacted by police to keep them informed of progress in the investigations and when a report is made anonymously we will still use the information to identify areas where there are problems."