HOMOPHOBIA HEADWAY

Headway is being made in the battle to tackle homophobic crime, figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) show. Between April 2006 and March 2007, the CPS prosecuted 822 cases identified as having a homophobic element. Of these, 478 resulted in a guilty plea and a further 124 resulted in conviction after trial. This compares to 600 cases prosecuted in 2005–6. The conviction rate has risen from 71% to 73.5%. The director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald QC, says: “The increase in cases also suggests that the confidence to report these offences is growing. We believe this is a direct result of our growing success in prosecuting these particularly nasty crimes.”