A woman in her 20s, who has not yet been publicly named, was beaten unconscious by three men in Yeovil, Somerset, in a homophobic attack. According to local police, the incident occurred at around 1am on May 24 while the woman was walking along Lyde Road. The men shouted homophobic abuse at her before chasing her onto Vale Road where she was beaten until she lost consciousness.
Officers found her on Vale Road and she is now recovering from her injuries but has yet to make a full statement about the events of the night. Investigations are ongoing with police conducting house-to-house enquires and CCTV analysis in an attempt to identify the attackers.
The attack follows a recent hate crime report from Galop UK, published on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, which found only 20% of hate crime victims are able to access support. Out of the 1,166 respondents, only 1 in 8 had reported hate crimes to the police, with many saying they did not trust the authorities to respond appropriately and effectively.