| Three teenagers have been charged with the murder of Admiral Duncan barman David Morley. They are Barry Lee, 19, a market trader from Kennington, and two 16-year-old boys. They'll face charges of murder, attempted grievous bodily harm, robbery and violent disorder and are due before Camberwell magistrates on Monday. Four other suspects have been bailed to return to separate police stations in South London for further questioning. | |
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More than 1,000 people attended a candle-lit vigil on Friday evening in memory of
Admiral Duncan barman David Morley who was beaten to death last weekend in
a homophobic attack near Hungerford Bridge. Mourners gathered at a packed St Anne's Church in Soho,
with many more outside holding candles. The London Gay Men's Chorus sang at the service and a tribute from Mayor Ken Livingstone was read.
"David Morley was well known and well loved in London's lesbian and gay community. As Mayor of London, I offer my sincere condolences on behalf of all Londoners to David's family and friends as they remember David's life on Friday evening. It is a tragedy that his life should be cut short by murderers who attacked him simply because he was gay." |
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Meanwhile campaign group Stonewall are urging Home Secretary David Blunkett to extend the current provisions on incitement to racial hatred to include homophobic hatred too. “Last weekend’s killing in London has highlighted a disturbing epidemic of violence against gay people in Britain,” said Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill. “Making it an offence to incite hatred against lesbians and gay men would help secure something positive from David Morley’s death.” David Morley was working behind the bar at the Admiral Duncan pub in London’s Soho on the night a nail bomb exploded there in 1999, killing three people. The incident was part of a bombing campaign directed at minority communities. “That David should survive one instance of hate crime against London’s gay population, only to then be killed in a later attack, makes this weekend’s appalling incident even worse,” says Ben. | |