
Tom is the Travel Editor at Gay Star News. Previously…
A British court sentenced a man to prison after he destroyed a gay man’s house and threatened him with a knife.
Police arrested Matthew Walker, 45, after they found him hanging through a smashed window into Gareth Dixon’s house on 4 January 2019.
Walker arrived at Dixon’s home in Hull with a golf club and a wooden bat. He screamed, ‘I’m gonna f**king kill you, queer c**t.’ He then smashed the windows and front door.
The court heard Walker walked off and told the police to ‘f**k off’ when the officers told him to stop.
Police tasered Walker and arrested him.
Walker told police: ‘He deserves it. He’s a f**king queer c**t. There will be bodies. I’ve told you I’ll kill him.
‘I’ll f**king slice him up, you just watch.’
Walker smashed the ground-floor windows. He also damaged a tank where Dixon kept his pet tarantula, Beyonce.
A second attack
However, after being released on bail, Walker returned a second time. He attempted to break down the door and threatened him with a knife.
Dixon told HullLive that he feels like a prisoner in his own home. He has now begun to self-harm again as he’s afraid to leave his house.
He said: ‘You shouldn’t be allowed to bully somebody because of their sexuality. I hate it. It makes me feel ill. That’s why I don’t go out anymore.
‘Any bang I hear on the door, it is like a heart attack. I sit in the dark constantly in case people think I am in because the lights are on.
‘I have been here six years and I used to live next door growing up. I used to feel safe around here but now I don’t.
‘It has killed me. I am knocked for six.’
Walker appeared at Hull Crown Court on Monday 8 July. He was sentenced to four years and four months in prison.
See also
Homophobic, transphobic hate crimes rose 144% in England and Wales in five years