Gscene News Archive

Police in Guildford are keen to highlight a recent incident in Ockham, Surrey.

At around 2.10am on Saturday February 14, a black VW Golf with five men on board drove into the car park at Ockham Bites, Old Lane, Ockham. The occupants of the car started throwing objects at a row of parked cars while shouting homophobic abuse. One of these objects hit the windscreen of a silver Vauxhall Corsa.

As the driver of the Corsa and his girlfriend left the car park they were followed on to the A3 by the VW Golf. During the chase along the A3 one of the passengers in the pursing car threw a full can of Stella at the victim hitting him in the face causing swelling. Eventually the victim lost the offending vehicle in Slough

The victim has stated that he is in a heterosexual relationship and he was extremely offended by the comments and believes these people are specifically targeting gay men. Both the victim and his girlfriend felt intimidated and frightened by this ordeal.

Sergeant Simon Berger said:
“Surrey Police has always treated any form of hate crime as a serious offence and it's something we will not tolerate.

“I would like to reassure the gay community in Surrey that we are taking positive measures to deal with these incidents and we would like to appeal to anyone who may have been in the area at the time or witnessed the incident to contact Surrey Police.

“All calls will be handled in the strictest of confidence.”

You can report Hate Crime in confidence by selecting the method of your choice. The options include:

Call 999 in an emergency
Through the Surrey Police website www.surrey.police.uk using its short, secure and confidential form. You can choose to remain anonymous if you wish.

You can also visit a list of useful links on the Surrey Police website which offers more information on specific hate crime types.

Call Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222
Call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Anyone with information about this recent incident February 14, is asked to contact West Surrey Police's Lesbian and Gay Liaison Officer on 01483 630474, or by email at wslaglo@surrey.police.uk, quoting reference GD/09/1510. Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously and free of charge on 0800 555 111.