Assault on drag star The Vivienne was homophobic attack, court finds

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An assault on drag star The Vivienne in a McDonald’s was motivated by homophobia, despite the attacker’s claims that it began as “banter”, magistrates have ruled.

Alan Whitfield, 51, admitted assault by beating on James Lee Williams, who performs as drag queen The Vivienne, but denied that it was homophobic.

Whitfield claimed he had “banter” with the star because he thought he looked like an Oompa Loompa from the film Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Giving evidence during a trial of issue at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Mr Williams said he had been subjected to a “barrage of abuse” from Whitfield after entering the McDonald’s on Edge Lane in Liverpool on June 16.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Mr Williams, 31, said: “He carried on, then after the fourth ‘look at the state of you’ I said ‘look at the state of you’, I said ‘look at the state of your face’, to which he said ‘I’ve got skin cancer’ and then punched me straight in the face.”

Mr Williams, who won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and came third in Dancing On Ice earlier this year, said he dressed in a “flamboyant” way and was used to “looks” and “stares”, but things had never before reached the point they did on the day of the assault.

He said: “There were countless other people in the branch of McDonald’s that day, why didn’t he start on anyone else? Why did he choose to publicly humiliate me and then hit me, if it wasn’t for my image or me being quite evidently gay?”

In a 999 call which was played to the jury, Mr Williams said: “He obviously knew I was gay, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist.”

But Whitfield, who was working as a scaffolder at the time, told the court his attention had been drawn to Mr Williams because of his dyed green hair.

The defendant said he asked him: “What have you come as, an Oompa Loompa?”

Whitfield, who was asked to explain to magistrates what an Oompa Loompa was, said the remarks were “banter” and claimed he did not know Mr Williams was homosexual, or see a handbag he was carrying.

He said he hit Mr Williams after he pointed out marks on his face from skin cancer.

He said: “I was very hurt, very very angry.”

In his evidence, Mr Williams accepted pointing out marks on Whitfield’s face and responding when he told him he had skin cancer by saying: “Made up for you.”

He told the court: “For that I truly apologise, that must have hurt, that was never intended.”

Richard Derby, representing Whitfield, suggested Mr Williams pointed at Whitfield’s face when he was inches away from him.

Mr Williams replied: “I don’t know how you measure inches, darling, but I’d say two feet.”

He told the court he effect of the attack “sunk in” a few days afterwards when he was waiting at a train station on his own.

He said: “It was the first time in my life I had ever shied away from any situation.

“I found myself hiding at the end of the platform away from the view of the public.”

After retiring to deliberate , chairman of the bench Anthony Canning said: “We find that the defendant’s evidence was not credible.

“Having considered this incident from beginning to end, we believe beyond reasonable doubt that the hostility shown by yourself from the outset was motivated and down to the perceived sexuality of the complainant and this was homophobic in nature.”

As he left the court, Whitfield said: “Joke. Bullshit. Where’s the hate crime for my cancer?”

After the trial, senior district Crown prosecutor Emily Lloyd said “ The finding that the offence was a hate crime enables the court to increase the sentence against Mr Whitfield to reflect this fact.

“We would not have been able to prosecute this offence without the courage of the victim making a statement and coming to court to give evidence.”

Whitfield, of Tom Mann Close, Liverpool, will be sentenced on January 3.