Three
Men Sentenced for Killing Gay Council Worker in
Scotland

A Scottish teenager will serve at least 16 years in prison after admitting to murdering a gay council worker in Perth, Scotland's South Inch public park, according to a story in The Times of London.

David Meehan, a 19-year-old from Perth, punched and kicked James Kerr, 51, giving him head injuries that led to his death. Fellow attacker Martin Soutar, a 21-year-old also from Perth, will serve at least nine years after pleading guilty to culpable homicide. A 15-year-old schoolboy, who remains unnamed for legal reasons, was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 months.

"This was a killing of a callous and brutal character, which appears to have been marked by a homophobic element," Judge Lord Macphail told Meehan and Soutar at Edinburgh's High Court, according to The Times.

The 15-year-old claimed Kerr made sexual advances toward him, and that a friend of Kerr's hit him during their exchange. The boy then phoned Soutar, who arrived with Meehan minutes later to help search the park for Kerr. The 15-year-old hit Kerr first, knocking him to the ground, and the two other men hit and kicked the victim repeatedly.

As they walked away, the 15-year-old was heard saying that he "hated gays and poofters." The attackers later attended a party, where they allegedly boasted about the crime. Meehan testified that they later walked past Kerr, bleeding but still alive, two hours after the party. (The Advocate)