Officers are appealing for witnesses and footage after a match official at last Saturday’s Millwall v Reading match was subjected to homophobic abuse.
The incident happened in the first half of the match at approximately 15.30hrs in the East Stand and is believed to have involved home fans.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or can provide detectives with video footage is asked to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or the Public Order Crime Team on 020 8246 9386.
DC Phil Dickinson from the Met’s Public Order Crime Team, said,
“We take any allegation of abuse very seriously and are investigating this matter. If anyone was at last Saturday’s game and witnessed the incident, or has video footage of it, I would urge them to come forward to assist us in our investigation.”
The UK’s biggest religious institution, the Church of England, has proclaimed that sex is only for married, straight people and has called for gay people to abstain from having sexual relations.
The guidance from the Church also calls for gay people to be abstinent with their partners. In its guidance, the CoE wrote, “For Christians, marriage – that is, the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity.”
The church said it sought to “uphold that standard”.
The Church’s guidance of a “lifelong union between a man and a woman” does seem to be at odds with the current legal situation in the United Kingdom, where marriage is considered a legal union between two consenting adults of any biological sex.
“falling short of God’s purpose for human beings”
Speaking about the introduction of the same-sex marriage act 2013, the guidance explained, “The introduction of same-sex marriage, through the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013, has not changed the church’s teaching on marriage or same-sex relationships.”
It also said that people having sex outside heterosexual marriage were “falling short of God’s purpose for human beings.”
The remarks, which were reported by the Guardian, have caused many LGBT people and their allies to pour their outrage onto Twitter.
And the church wonders why it's losing followers 🙄
The hitmaker has launched a non-profit organisation in order to support LGBT+ human rights.
The organisation has “the vision to see LGBT+ communities of all ages and backgrounds enjoy full human rights within a fully-inclusive society”
The organisation will, in part, be financed by Adam Lambert himself
Musician, actor and activist Adam Lambert has launched the Feel Something Foundation (FSF), with the mission to support LGBT+ organisations that are moving the needle for communities of all ages and backgrounds.
Founded by Adam in 2019, the Feel Something Foundation is the result of a career travelling the world, meeting global members of the community, hearing their stories and witnessing first-hand the difficulties LGBT+ people continue to face in all areas of life.
Having spent time throughout his career engaging in LGBT+ activism and as a member of the community himself, the foundation sees Adam’s philanthropy institutionalised into an organisation with the aim to truly make a difference. With the vision to see LGBT+ communities of all ages and backgrounds enjoy full human rights within a fully-inclusive society, FSF first aims to ensure support is given to the myriad of issues that continue to disproportionately affect them.
This will be achieved through working with charities that have a mission or project directly focussed on impacting the LGBT+ community in areas of Education & the Arts; Homelessness; Suicide Prevention & Mental Health. The Feel Something Foundation wants to abolish “coming out” as a term used to define someone simply being themselves.
FSF will build its revenue through the personal charitable contributions of its founder, directors and with public funds raised through fundraising and awareness campaigns, events and initiatives. The first fundraiser will be initiated in the coming weeks with an online clothing auction of some of Adam’s best looks. Initial charities will be chosen based on those Adam has worked with previously and that stand for the positive, progressive messages of the Feel Something Foundation in supporting and empowering LGBT+ communities.
16th January 2020
Rainbow Crossing unveiling outside Brent Civic Centre
Photographer: Justin Thomas
Not one, but six Rainbow crossings for the London Borough of Brent to celebrate Brent’s Year of Culture.
The first of six rainbow crossings has landed in Wembley Park, just ten minutes down the road from George Michael’s former school, Kingsbury High School. The crossings are a timely celebration of LGBT+ communities as the London borough kicks off its year of culture. The Mayor of Brent joined members of the organisation’s LGBT+ network, Councillors and Chief Executive Carolyn Downs at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday 16 January.
16th January 2020
Rainbow Crossing unveiling outside Brent Civic Centre
Photographer: Justin Thomas
Over the coming year, Brent Council will install another five of these colourful pedestrian crossings across the borough.
Based on the Pride flag, the crossings signal inclusion and support for LGBT+ communities in Brent and beyond, many of whom still experience discrimination and violence.
Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, said: “Outward signs are important in signalling an inclusive environment for LGBT+ communities. With these rainbow crossings, we are showing our true colours as an open, diverse and accepting borough. The Borough of Cultures where everybody’s story is celebrated.”
Brent is The Mayor of London’s Borough of Culture for 2020.
A year-long programme will explore the stories, art and emotions that hold life in Brent together, uncovering and celebrating its untold tales and unheard voices.
There has been a drop in new HIV transmissions between 2014 and 2018, across the UK, a new report has found.
New data showing substantial progress on reducing HIV rates in the capital has been welcomed by London Councils.
National figures released today by Public Health England highlight that HIV diagnoses have fallen faster in London than elsewhere. In 2014, London accounted for half of new diagnoses in gay and bisexual men. The latest data shows this was reduced to 39% by 2018.
The drop in national HIV transmission rates has been especially large among men who have sex with men, with a 73% fall between 2014 and 2018. The number of new HIV diagnoses in people who acquired HIV heterosexually has almost halved over the past decade from 3,400 in 2009 to 1,940 in 2018.
The steepest declines were in London residents, in those aged 25 to 34 years, in persons of black African ethnicity, and those born abroad.
Combination of preventions is to thank for the decline
Public Health England points to the success of the combination prevention approach – which includes the use of condoms, regular HIV testing, starting antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible if HIV positive, and taking the HIV prevention medicine PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) if HIV negative.
Combination prevention is promoted in the capital through the London HIV Prevention Programme (LHPP). The programme, which is funded collaboratively by London boroughs, has been providing HIV testing and condom distribution across the city through its sexual health promotion service since 2014. The LHPP also delivers the pan-London multi-media HIV prevention awareness campaign ‘Do It London’.
Cllr Ray Puddifoot, London Councils’ Executive Member for Health & Care, said, “This data shows that London is making excellent progress in tackling HIV.
“We’re incredibly proud of the contribution made by the boroughs’ collaborative London HIV Prevention Programme and the Do It London campaign. By working efficiently and effectively together on this public health challenge, boroughs ensure clear and consistent messages are communicated to Londoners about the importance of testing and protection.”
Paul Steinberg, lead commissioner of the London HIV Prevention Programme, said, “Today’s report is further evidence of London leading the way on HIV prevention.
“The capital has made very significant progress in reducing HIV in the last decade, which is testament to everyone involved in ending the epidemic. Our world-class NHS services, alongside community-based initiatives including the boroughs’ London HIV Prevention Programme, have played a crucial role in achieving that progress.
“The cross-borough innovation and collaboration by the boroughs on HIV since 2014 is paying dividends, with London’s HIV strategy now regarded around the world as a success story.
“Further challenges remain. We must continue our efforts to reduce late diagnosis, to raise awareness of HIV among our key communities and to diagnose the 2,100 people who are currently living with HIV but are unaware of their status. We’re committed to continuing this progress and achieving zero new HIV diagnoses in London by 2030.”
London is a member of the worldwide Fast-Track Cities initiative and became one of the first global cities to meet the UN’s ambitious HIV diagnosis and treatment targets. London has pledged to achieve three key HIV goals by 2030: zero new transmissions, zero deaths, and zero stigma.
Detectives investigating the death of 43-year-old Adrian Murphy in Battersea and a separate incident in Walthamstow have charged a woman.
In 2019, an Irish man, Adrian Murphy, was found dead in a luxury flat he was housesitting after inviting a man for a dating app hook up.
Police have now arrested a woman and charged her for the murder of Adrian Murphy.
-One count of murder (in relation to Adrian Murphy)
Diana Cristea, 18 (05.10.01) of Barnet, London was arrested on Tuesday, 14 January 2020 and later charged with:
-One count of poisoning – administering a substance to endanger life/inflict GBH (against a 40-year-old man, the victim of the Walthamstow incident)
-Two counts of theft (in relation to both victims)
-Two counts of fraud by false representation (in relation to both victims)
She will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 15 January.
Joel Osei, 25 (11.11.94), of no fixed abode, was previously arrested on Thursday, 24 October and the following day was charged with:
-Two counts of poisoning – administering a substance to endanger life/inflict GBH (in relation to both incidents)
-Two counts of theft (in relation to both incidents)
-Six counts of fraud by false representation (in relation to both victims)
He was subsequently charged with murder on 5 December.
He has been remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 17 February.
“Hallmarks of a similar attack on a 40-year-old man in east-London just days beforehand”
The victim, Mr Murphy, from Kilkenny in Ireland, had apparently organised a hook up on a dating app and had the hallmarks of a similar attack on a 40-year-old man in east-London just days beforehand.
The flat in which he was staying had been ransacked and property allegedly was stolen.
Echoes of Barking Murders
CREDIT: met police
Similarly to the Stephen Port murders, in which the serial killer drugged, raped and then murdered his victims, he found on gay dating apps, the 40-year-old victim who survived his ordeal in Walthamstow believes he was drugged by a man he had invited to his flat after meeting him on a social networking platform.
He became unconscious and was found later that day by a friend who raised the alarm.
The mayor of Depok city, in Indonesia, has demanded that police raid the LGBT+ community, to “stop the spread” of LGBT+ people.
Depok City is the hometown of the convicted serial rapist, Reynhard Sinaga and it is thought that the mayor has ordered the crackdown on LGBT+ people following the high profile court case, which saw Sinaga banged up for a minimum of 30 years.
According to Amnesty International, Mohammad Idris, the mayor of the city of Depok in West Java, asked municipal police to search rented residencies in order to stop what he called “immoral” acts.
Idris is part of the Prosperous Justice Party, an Islam-based political party in Indonesia, which has a political affiliation with the right-wing Muslim Brotherhood organisation.
He labelled his crackdown a “prevention toward the spread of LGBTI” in the city, saying he had called for the raids in the wake of global media interest in Sinaga’s case.
Sinaga was convicted of multiple rapes and sexual assaults and is currently serving a 30-year sentence in the UK.
Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director, said,
“This latest vicious campaign against LGBTI people must stop.
“Same-sex relations are protected under international law and there can be no justification for these hateful raids.
“Criminalisation of homosexuality is discriminatory and violates the rights to private and family life, freedom of expression, and the freedom of assembly and association.
“The authorities in Indonesia repeatedly launch humiliating crackdowns on suspected same-sex activity, and misuse laws against loitering or public nuisance to harass and arrest LGBTI people.
“The Indonesian government should also repeal all laws that criminalise specific gender identities and expressions.”
Indonesia’s LGBT Crackdown
In recent years, LGBTI communities in Indonesia have faced increasing crackdowns from the authorities.
In 2018, police in Padang, West Sumatra, arrested ten women and accused them of same-sex relations after one of them posted a photo of her kissing and hugging another woman on Facebook. In the same year in the neighbouring province of Lampung, local police raided a beach and arrested three people who they suspected of being transgender women in an operation said to “provide safety and maintain public order” in the city. And in October 2018, West Java Police arrested two men for administering a Facebook group called “Facebook Gay Bandung Indonesia”, which has a total of 4,093 members.
Sharia Law?
Recently there has been a crackdown on homosexuality and transgender people, particularly in the Aceh Province, which uses Sharia law to govern its people, Sharia law outlaws same-sex sexual activity.
There have also been reports where there have been raids on gay men in the Country’s capital city, Jarkata. In May 2017, dozens of men were arrested for allegedly attending a party at a sauna. Police raided the venue and captured 144 men, under broad pornography laws. The broadly written rules have been used to target the gay community in the past unfairly.
It’s a startling story, but at its centre is convicted murderer, Luka Magnotta, whose grisly past is now the subject of a Netflix documentary series, Don’t F**K With Cats.
Is Luka Magnotta gay?
Although he never officially came out as gay, it is assumed that Luka is gay. In the horrific murder video of his victim Lin Jun, a 33-year-old computer engineering student from China he is seen having sexual intercourse with the body.
He was also an escort, stripper and starred in a number of gay porn videos. In 2005 he was a pin-up model for fab magazine.
In 2007 he also took part in OutTV reality TV series, COVERguy, where part of the prize was a land a cover shoot with the gay magazine, abOUT magazine.
When was Luke Magnotta born?
Luka was born in 1982 and Luka isn’t actually his birth name. His given name at birth was Eric Kirk Newman to teenaged parents in Toronto, Canada.
Is Luka Magnotta in jail?
Yes, he was imprisoned in Canada for life for the murder of Lin Jun. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years. In 2014 a jury, after eight days of deliberations, convicted him of first-degree murder.
Gay and lesbian couples are now able to get married in all four nations of the UK.
Same-sex marriage is now legal in Northern Ireland – despite repeated attempts by the DUP to thwart legal equality for gay and lesbians in the region.
The subject of same-sex marriage had been voted on at least five times by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Northern Ireland is the last nation in the United Kingdom to legalise marriage between two people of the same sex. England, Scotland and Wales have permitted same-sex marriage since 2014.
This also means that gay people who are already married will have their marriages recognised in Northern Ireland.
From today, couples in Northern Ireland can register their intent to marry with the authorities with the first actual marriages expected to take place on the 10th February 2020.
Gemma Watts has been jailed for eight years after being sentenced at Winchester Crown Court.
A deceitful woman who pretended to be a young boy online so she could groom young teenage girls from around the country has been jailed.
Gemma Watts, 21 (18.09.98) from Pembroke Avenue, Enfield has been sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to eight years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty at the same court on 28 November 2019 to:
– Assault by penetration (Section 2 of the Sexual Offence Act 2003) – victim 1;
– Sexual Assault, (Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 1;
– Meeting a child following sexual grooming (Section 15 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 1;
– Sexual Assault, (Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 2;
– Meeting a child following sexual grooming (Section 15 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 2;
– Meeting a child following sexual grooming (Section 15 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 3;
– Sexual Assault, (Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) – victim 4.
Watts was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and was made subject to a life-long Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Detective Constable Phillipa Kenwright, who was the Met’s Safeguarding Lead for the case, said , “In this particular case, Watts targeted her young victims on social media platforms and duped them into believing they were entering into a relationship with someone whom they could trust.
“She then went on to form physical relationships in which she spun a web of lies and deceit, giving her the opportunity to commit sexual offences.
“Her arrest, and now lengthy prison sentence, has prevented her from targeting further victims, but I hope that it also gives reassurance to other victims of sexual exploitation that offenders will be brought to justice. I encourage them to come forward and speak to us.
“I am delighted with the sentence that the Judge has passed today and hope it acts as a warning to others intent on exploiting and manipulating children online, that they will be dealt with robustly.”
Watts created an “elaborate web of deception”
Following a joint operation by the Met and Hampshire Constabulary, it was established that Watts had spun a bizarre and elaborate web of deception by inventing a fictional alias ‘Jake Watton’. She used this profile to groom teenage girls she met through social media sites and then sexually assault them.
Watts contacted her victims through social messaging apps, Facebook, Snapchat, Yubo and Instagram, under the alias of 16-year-old Jake Waton or Jake Watton.
Watts exchanged messages with her victims, obtaining their trust before meeting them and committing a number of serious sexual offences.
Hampshire Police contacted officers from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime unit informing them an investigation had been launched after receiving reports from a medical professional that a 14-year-old girl (victim 1) had reported being sexually assaulted by her boyfriend ’Jake Waton’ in April 2018.
She used various aliases, including “Jake Waton”
The investigation showed that ‘Jake Waton’ was actually an adult female called Gemma Watts. Further research by officers identified another two victims, both under 18, (victim 2 and victim 3) who also reported being groomed and sexually assaulted by Watts under her alias.
Officers executed a search warrant at Watts’ home address in July 2018 and arrested her for a number of serious sexual offences.
During interview, she admitted to grooming the victims whilst pretending to be ‘Jake Waton’ and partially admitted a number of the assaults. Watts was bailed to allow further enquiries to be completed.
It was later established that she continued to groom young females whilst on police bail and was re-arrested in October 2018 in West Midlands when she was found with a 15-year-old missing girl (victim 4). The victim reported to officers that she had been sexually assaulted by Watts.
In November 2018, officers from the Met obtained an interim Sexual Risk Order from Stratford Magistrates’ Court which allowed Watts to be closely monitored by officers to prevent her from re-offending until charges were authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Hampshire. A final Sexual Risk Order was obtained on 2 May 2019 and Watts was charged on 12 September 2019.
PC Nicola Benson, from Hampshire Constabulary’s Missing and Exploited Team, said , “The level of manipulation and deceit used by Watts to snare her victims, in this case, was truly shocking. Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation online with increased use of social media apps, and there is a real risk that any contact with a stranger online can lead to a child meeting an offender in person.
“This case demonstrates the stark reality of that, and it is astonishing the lengths that Watts went to, to ensure she could abuse these girls.
“I am pleased that Watts has now received a custodial sentence, and I would like to commend the bravery of the girls and their families who found the courage to come forward and make this happen. I want them to know that they are not in any way to blame for this, and hope they can now move on from this ordeal.
“I would also like to thank officers from West Midlands Police, Devon & Cornwall Police, Kent Police and the Metropolitan Police for their involvement in this complex and lengthy investigation.”
Anyone who has any information that could help lead to an arrest, or protect a child from online abuse, is asked to call 999. Alternatively, they should contact the NSPCC or Internet Watch Foundation (https://www.iwf.org.uk/).
Detective Inspector Mark Rogers, from the Met, added, “Thankfully, these type of crimes are rare. However, it is important that parents, guardians and everyone who works with young people takes an interest in what children are doing on the internet and educates them about the risks associated with using social media.
“The internet is a fantastic resource enabling young people to socialise and learn. Unfortunately, it can also be used by predatory offenders to target children. We will robustly investigate any child sex offences committed online, and I would urge any young person who has experienced unsolicited contact to report it to police.”
PC Maria Carrick, Hampshire Constabulary’s Education and Youth Engagement Coordinator, said ,“Young people are vulnerable to exploitation online, and in serious and worrying cases, adults pose as young people to groom and exploit them into engaging in sexual activity online, or trick them into meeting with the intention of physically causing sexual harm.
“This is what makes prevention so important and why we continue to actively work with young people, schools, parents and youth partners in a joined up approach to educate whole communities about the risks children face online, and the impact this can have on them and their families.
“We encourage parents and teachers not to be afraid to talk to children about their activities on social media and explain the importance of privacy, and thinking before uploading content online to help prevent them from becoming victims or perpetrators. This is key to developing young people’s trust and confidence to talk to you, someone else they trust or to report if they’re concerned about inappropriate contact they’ve had online.”
