A gay couple in London faced a horrifying attack on a London-bound train from Reading, after they were pounced upon by a group of four men.
35-year-old Phil Poole and his boyfriend Zbynek Zatloukal, 26, are hoping someone will be able to identify the men, who attacked them around 1:05am on February 15th.
Related: Three football players admit to hazing younger player in horrific “No Gay Thursday” attack
Talking to The Standard, Poole alleges the group yelled homophobic slurs at his boyfriend while Poole slept on his shoulder.
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The couple had missed their stop at Maidenhead.
Poole says he was abruptly awoken near Ealing Broadway by a punch to the face, and the attack left him with severe cuts and bruises.
He was reportedly knocked unconscious in the brawl, which found both men kicked and hit repeatedly while trying to escape their attackers.
Zatloukal is suffering a suspected broken eye and had both front teeth knocked out.
Related: Trump supporters target NYC activists in violent attack
Police have released crystal-clear CCTV stills of four people they want to question regarding the attack, which took place on a Reading to London Paddington train.
In a statement, officer PC Peter Taylor said:
“This was a very nasty assault committed by a group of men who attacked two other men while they were sleeping on the train.”
“The victims believe the motivation for the attack was that the offenders thought they were gay.”
“I can’t really remember much about what happened because I was in such shock when I woke up,” Mr. Poole tells The Standard.
“I managed to get up and stumble down the carriageway but then they followed me.
“I’m not a violent person at all. I’ve never even been punched so I didn’t even know how to defend myself.”
“Hate crimes such as this will absolutely not be tolerated by British Transport Police,” Taylor says.
“I would like to speak to anyone who recognizes the men shown in the CCTV images as they may have information which could help with the investigation.”
If you have any info, you’re strongly encouraged to call police at 0800 40 50 40, or text information to 61016 quoting reference number 30 15/2/17.
salumbre
It just never ends.
Billysees
It does seem like it never ends doesn’t it? But maybe ‘time and happenings’ will lessen the hate. That’s possible if more and more people speak acceptably about LGBT folks.
davidkohl
This is what happens when the far right have the upper hand – the bullies are freed to bully. In both the UK and the USA hate crimes have exploded since the far right now feel emboldened by their ‘victories’ – neither of which was a victory. Trump in the USA and Farage in the UK are monstrous hate peddlers of the first order.
kehvan
Ah yes, as if Muslims treat gay people better.
highestbidder
Muslims are far right wing, what’s your punt kehvan?
captainburrito
What victory? Brexit meant Farage will be out of a job. He is a member of the European Parliament. His party struggles to win seats in the UK Parliament which tells you British people don’t trust him enough to even elect him.
He says he is a prisoner in his own home!
The party in power in British House of Commons is the Conservative party who would probably be classed as liberals by americans.
DCguy
@kehvan Ahhhh yes, the fake Right wing bigot lie. We’re supposed to ignore ANYTHING that happens because they will scream that in OTHER countries lgbts have it worse.
Lets clear this up. The right wing is a party of anti-lgbt bigots who seek to do us harm, and the fact that they treat lgbts terribly in other countries is irrelevant because of people like the GOP had their way they would kill us here too.
What this B.S. troll comment is saying is the same as if they told a woman “Stop complaining about being raped, in other countries they would arrest you for reporting it.
So go back to hell you right wing troll douche.
scotshot
@kehvan
I’m aware of what q1radicalized Muslims are capable of, and yes they are a real threat to LGBTQ.
I’ve been assaulted three times in my life. One time was by crackheads. A couple of kicks from them and the $5 dollar bill in my pocket sent them on my way.
The other two times came from “good American christians” who were exercising their special Constitutional rights to beat the sh*t out of me. I almost died three times from complications of the two incidents.
Excuse me if I believe there is more danger from persons who live in Americans than other countries.
Kangol
Violent white homophobes, any surprise?
batesmotel
Except the point that was lost on you is that this has NOTHING to do with the far right. Do you really think these guys that attacked are from the far right? The majority of hate crimes against gays happen in LIBERAL CITIES! The Far left! The media has trained you to believe that liberals and the far left love everybody, when the majority of these attacks are by liberals that are anti-gay.
ChrisK
Hey you little bigoted monsters. Great selfies. I’m sure they’ll catch up to you soon enough.
Billysees
I don’t think they’re real selfies, more like security footage. Yes, let’s hope they’ll catch them soon.
ChrisK
Just once I’d like to hear of a bully massacre because they picked on someone with a concealed gun.
andrea_spiga
ODIN, YEAH
Me too
kehvan
Actually, you do hear about that in the United States — https://youtu.be/nDYcfycWVOk
highestbidder
You can’t kill someone for bullying you, that’s murder. This isn’t bullying, it’s assault.
ChrisK
@highestbidder
That’s what I meant. Using whatever force to stop someone from hurting you is considered fair play.
SFHandyman
In 1984 Bernhard Goetz was surrounded by 4 guys on the subway who demanded $5. He had already been mugged and injured before and bought a gun after that incident. He shot all 4.
The problem with vigilantes is some people feel threats that don’t exist.
ChrisK
@SFHandyman
That problem was that he shot one in the back trying to get away. I remember him being treated like a hero who just had it though.
scotshot
@kehvan
The problem with the little incident you refer to is that it was staged.
The more likely outcome is that the men would have pulled out a rifle and started shooting. There are situations similar to this that truly occur, but the outcomes are far different.
Kieran
But they HATE President Trump in England. How could something like this happen there?
Mack
The smart people there hate Trump, not the low class stupid ones.
broadshoulder
It had nothing to do with trump. Garage is to blame
broadshoulder
Sorry. Farage is to blame
davidkohl
They hate Trump over the WORLD – not just Britain. But you get far right scum in every country who are very willing to emulate their Bully In Chief. And to the person who suggested that the British Conservatives are ‘liberals’ – I suggest you look at what has happened in Britain since 2010. The whole reason Britain is in the mess its in right now is because the Conservative Party gave in to its right wing racist section. That was the ‘victory’ for Farage I was talking about. The Conservative Party in the UK are not and never have ‘liberal’ in my understanding of that word. They have always been racist, homophobic and sexist – just not to the same degree as the current illegitimate rabble in the White House.
Ksb1978
You know bigotry and homophobia does exist in the UK.
Kangol
These white creeps hate gays too. They’re not Muslim, so do you support their homophobia?
batesmotel
That’s because the attacks on these poor men were by guys who are anti-trump, but the hardcore extremist left wing gays are under the delusion that anti-Trump supporters would never harm a gay person. WRONG!
silveroracle
You would think in this day and age that things like that didn’t happen anymore.
It’s sickening!
scotshot
I think things like this do happen in America almost every day.
Six Trans individuals have been murdered in the US since New Years.
Pay attention.
broadshoulder
Living near Ealing Broadway this attack sickens me. They were egging it on because they were in a group. They thought gays would make an easy target. People forget about homophobic attacks. Two men against four is serious odds.
I hope they catch them and throw the book at them
Captain Obvious
White homophobia is the largest and most dangerous form of homophobia. They’re all Christian and hate us because of their religious. We need to go into white neighborhoods and educate them.
OrchidIslander
I get what you did there. Ignorance, brutality and cowardice knows no ethnic barriers – yet some of us view those traits through a selective prism of color.
JerseyMike
Mace and a rock in a sock.. Mace the sh!t out of them then swing that sock like you are fighting off a bear.. At the end of the day we are still men and we need to fight back.. They keep attacking because we don’t fight back.. Remember the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared!!
fur_hunter
Hey Mike…….That’s a GREAT idea and it could be legal….the rock in the sock, that is. I’m still in favor of conceal carry. I’m also all for folks to jump in, like what has been happening lately, when they see a crime happening. Shoot the damn thugs and hopefully kill their @$$es. And if the event goes to court, put me on the jury. As far as I am concerned, you are not guilty for killing the worthless POS.
Neonegro
Of course it’s because of Trump.
Gays were never attacked and mistreated before Trump.
Maybe gays could migrate to not under TRUMP Britain and mingle with their moslems political allies.
davidkohl
You are so absurd Neonegro – we know gay-bashing happened before Trump – the point is that hate crimes have exploded since the ‘election’ that he did not win. His hate filled speeches are directly responsible for attacks of gays, muslims and ‘foreigners’ in general – most notably the Indian man who was murdered by a hate filled right wing maniac who was able to get a gun thanks to your ridiculous gun laws. Similar crimes have taken place in the UK after the Brexit debate and vote. – though not killing of course. I would be more likely to be afraid of mingling with people like you than with the Muslims I know – you are far more dangerous.
Neonegro
You are finally right on one point davidkohl.
You should be afraid of mingling with people like me as I have a very low tolerance for your kind.
Herman75
Those 4 will be caught sooner or later. Sad thing is when this happens in the States, lawyers dress them up a good white Catholic kids (or whatever the fvck their religion is) and some judge decides to avoid harsh sentences for the good of the poor boys lives and their poor lovely families.
broadshoulder
As you can see below some progress has been made on this
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/05/man-comes-forward-after-valentines-day-group-attack-on-gay-couple
It doesn’t seem like there was four attackers. There wereactually five. Cowardly bitches
JoshuaMilks
Find the 4 of them and kill them. They need to be just as scared of dying as we are.