Kent: Homophobic couple jailed for shoving poker down gay man’s throat – Metro.co.uk

A homophobic couple who tortured a man in his own home after he came out as gay has been jailed.

Dad-of-three Vince McMahan, 58, had a fire-poker forced down his throat and his head battered in a brutal attack at his house in Canterbury, Kent in March 2019.

Stuart Holland, 45, repeatedly called the former magistrate ‘queer’ as he thrashed him with the fire-poker, while both he and partner Joanna Bath, 46, called him a ‘pervert’.

The horrific incident came a year after Mr McMahan revealed his sexuality in a newspaper article in June 2018 after keeping it a secret for 25 years.

The former Canterbury City councillor said having a heart attack at a gay bar made him realise he ‘couldn’t live a lie anymore’. He died of causes unrelated to the attack 18 months later.

Holland – who had done some carpentry work for the victim – and Bath were invited inside after knocking on Mr McMahan’s door at 10.30pm.

James Ross, prosecuting, told the court: ‘While all sitting in the living room Stuart Holland made a comment about Vincent McMahan’s sexuality.

‘Vincent McMahan said in the local press that he was gay, a magistrate, and it was a great weight off his shoulders.’

Holland then repeatedly slapped Mr McMahan and called him ‘queer’, before hitting him with the fire poker.

Mr Ross said: ‘Holland used that poker to begin striking Mr McMahan’s right leg a few times – this caused cuts and soreness.

‘After Holland used the poker, Bath then got up and slapped Mr McMahan a few times, she then took an implement from her handbag and used this to hit Mr McMahan on the back of the head.’

Both thugs then called him a ‘pervert’, an unfounded allegation, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

When the victim tried to call 999, Holland grabbed him and inserted the poker into his mouth, causing him to gag, Mr Ross said.

The attack left the former magistrate scared to leave the house as he feared he could bump into his assailants in the street.

He told police: ‘I am shaken by this incident because I wouldn’t expect to be attacked in my own home – I’m also upset about being targeted and attacked because of my sexuality.’

Holland was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to actual bodily harm and theft.

Bath received a 27-month jail term for the same offences, and was also handed an additional three years in jail for previous drugs and shoplifting offences to be served consecutively.

She admitted 11 unrelated counts of theft and two counts of supplying class A drugs at previous hearings. A charge of joint enterprise robbery was also asked to lie on file.

The couple argued in court the attack was a row over money rather than the victim’s sexuality.

Phil Rowley, representing Bath, said she had become lost in life after she was assaulted herself in a ‘traumatic’ incident.

After being arrested, she had told officers: ‘I’m so sorry it went too far, nobody was meant to get hurt.’

He added that she was an addict at the time of her offending, played a ‘lesser-role’ in the attack and had cleaned up her act in prison.

Judge O’Mahony said the homophobic nature of the attack pushed the deserved punishment ‘above the sentencing guidelines’.

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He added the use of a weapon, the victim’s degradation and vulnerability, abuse of trust and homophobic hostility created a ‘clean sweep of every box’ for higher culpability.

The judge explained Holland’s previous criminal record for violence was an aggravating element of the attack.

The list of charges read in court included wounding, actual bodily harm, assaulting emergency workers, carrying an offensive weapon, affray and common assault dating back to 1996.

Bath’s previous convictions included six counts of theft, possession of a class A drug and vehicle interference.

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