Army veteran steps in to stop vicious homophobic attack on London bus
Lee Wardle and another passenger called Adam stepped in to stop the man
By Steve Brown
An army veteran stepped in to stop a vicious homophobic attack on a London bus.
Former Grenadier Guardsman Lee Wardle – who served in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland – was travelling home from his work at Halfway 2 Heaven when he heard a man shouting homophobic abuse down the phone.
When Wardle asked the man to stop, he tried to hit him before attacking another man – who has been identified as called Adam – who was also travelling on the same bus.
Adam was punched repeatedly and knocked unconscious, according to Wardle who told the Evening Standard: “A guy was sat on the top deck just in front of me having a really loud, obnoxious conservation using a lot of homophobic language.
“The man was talking about having been to a gay club or bar, but he seemed to have gone there with the view to pick up women.
“He had some sort of altercation with an individual about this. I think he said f*****s should be killed. It was very distressing language.”
When Wardle and Adam asked the man to stop, he turned on them both and in shocking footage recorded by another passenger, the man is seen to punched Adam in the side of the head knocking him to the floor.
Wardle continued: “He didn’t hit me, but he went for me and I warned him that it wasn’t a good idea. I’m quite a tall guy.
“Adam was a smaller and easier target. He was punched repeatedly and eventually knocked out.”
Now police have released CCTV images of the suspect after they issued an appeal to find the suspect.
Although no arrests have been made as of yet, Wardle hopes police catch him before he hurts anyone else,
“I just want him caught before he seriously hurts somebody,” Wardle continued.
“This guy needs educating. He can’t think that he has got away with it. I refuse to let him think that he has got away with it.”
Wardle added the reason he got involved was because the majority of the time, no one will stand up against this type of behaviour.
He added: “I have heard it all before, but I was concerned that there were other people on the bus.
“Usually in London no one bats an eyelid. They would rather keep out of it, which is really sad. It’s a discrimination in a different outfit.”