Six arrests in gay hate attack
Updated on 27 October 2009
Six teenagers arrested after a vicious homophobic attack on a trainee policeman outside a gay bar have been released on bail.
22-year-old James Parkes was off duty when he was attacked by up to twenty people in Liverpool.
He is now seriously ill in hospital with multiple head fractures, and the police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
This evening his parents, Ann and Ron Parkes, praised Liverpool's gay community for supporting their son and urged anyone with information to come forward.
In a statement, they said:
"We are really grateful for all the support that James has received since the attack, particularly from the gay community and the police.
"James has worked hard to serve the Merseyside community over the last two years as a Police Community Support Officer and is very excited to be at the start of his career as a police officer.
"We can't believe the ignorance of the young people who carried out the attack on someone who was just out on a night out with friends and had done nothing wrong.
"We are really keen that the young people involved in the attack are caught and bought to justice and would ask anyone who knows anything about the attack to contact the police. "
Officers are now sifting through CCTV footage taken from around Stanley Street and bars nearby.
The incident has happened at a time when gay rights charity Stonewall point to an increase in homophobic attacks across Britain.
