A HOMOPHOBIC thug attacked a gay couple, one of them transgender, during a brutal group attack which left both victims in a hospital trauma unit and afraid to leave the safety of their homes.

Asfandyar Kiani of Worcester was jailed for nine years at Worcester Crown Court on Friday following the horrific attack in which one half of the young couple suffered a broken jaw in three places and the other suffered a broken nose. Kiani, 21, of Ludstock Close showed no emotion when he was told he must serve at least two thirds of his nine year sentence behind bars.

The sentence comes a day after a life sentence was handed out for the murder of a transgender woman at the same court - Martin Saberi was given a life sentence after he finally admitted to killing Amy Griffiths at her flat in the town in January 2019.

Brandon Taylor, 19, who has a care of address of St Paul's Hostel in Worcester has yet to be sentenced for his role in the attack involving Kiani. The couple was mocked for wearing black nail varnish, as the pair described them as 'a bit gay' and 'sick' as well as making sexually offensive comments involving 'lube', what the judge was later to call 'homophobic and anti-transgender comments'.

The couple had been on their way to Morrisons in Malvern when they were set upon, even telling their attackers they were 'pacifists' in a bid to quell the violence.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright, sentencing, said: "One of them ended up falling to his knees, pleading with you to stop. He was hit very hard in the face with what he thought was a knuckle duster."

Punches and kicks were thrown at both men which the judge said were delivered 'as hard as each of you could'. At one point, the most seriously injured of the two men had his face 'smacked on the ground' and when his partner came to assist and he was also kicked. The most seriously injured of the two victims also suffered a gash to his temple.

At the time of the attack in Malvern on September 20, 2019 Kiani was still under investigation for another group attack in Lowesmoor, Worcester in which another man was knocked unconscious.

Kiani returned to steal his wallet while he was out cold in Black Horse Walk on March 26, 2019.

Both of the Malvern victims are on the autistic spectrum and were knocked unconscious at various stages of the attack. Michael Aspinall said the gay man's jaw was broken in at least two places (his mother said three places) and had to be placed on a liquid diet for eight weeks and was forced to give up work and had hoped to embark on an internship at Mencap, a role the judge described as 'close to his heart'.

The transgender victim suffered a broken nose. The victim of the GBH is reported a worsening short term memory and, according to his mum, has become 'extremely withdrawn'.

The mother of the victim of the ABH said: "The attack has set him back massively to the point that he will not go out entirely and is virtually a prisoner in his house."

Kiani was part of a group that offered to sell a man weed in Worcester city centre at around midnight on March 26, 2019. When the victim and his friend refused they were set upon by a group of five men, including Kiani, who rained down punches and kicks but returned to steal his wallet as the victim lay unconscious "He walked back to his friends, bragging about having a contactless card," said Mr Aspinall.

Kiani was also sentenced for possession of cannabis with intent to supply after police were called to a disturbance in Back Lane South in Worcester on September 7, 2019. The defendant ran from police, throwing a cannabis grinder the ground, jumping fences and found in a garden in Moor Street before he was taken to Worcester Police Station. In his underwear police found 14 wraps of skunk cannabis worth £140 and £960 in cash which has been confiscated.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright made an uplift in the sentence to reflect the fact that the Malvern attack 'was motivated by and did demonstrate hostility based upon the sexual orientation' of both victims and the transgender status of one of them. However, the judge had also to balance this against the defendant's youth, reductions in sentence duration for his guilty pleas and the principle of totality.

The judge told Kiani the victims of the attack were vulnerable on the account it was clear from their appearance that they were 'not straight'.

He said although all three victims of the violence were deserving of compensation he could not make such an order because of the length of the custodial sentence imposed.