Two men in Reading have been beaten and robbed after a homophobic attack in local park by a gang of youths.
The two men, who have not been named, were in Cintra Park in Whitley at 12:04am after spending the evening at a barbeque when they were set upon by a large gang of youths, who shouted abuse, kicked and punched them before robbing one of the men.
PC Nick Hook of Reading Local CID, is calling for help from anyone who may have seen the attackers, who are described as youths aged 15-20, some of them are described as being stripped to the waist.
One was a white male of slim build approximately five ft with short dark hair and wearing no top. Another was a white boy of slim build, aged about 15, and about five ft with short dark hair, wearing long trousers and no top. A third boy was white, of slim build aged about 16 with dark hair, wearing dark tracksuit trousers and a top.
He said: “We are investigating the incident as a homophobic hate crime which has left the victims understandably shaken.
“This incident is being treated extremely seriously. We will not tolerate hate crimes in our community and will be making every effort to track down and bring to justice those responsible.”
Call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
