Homophobic Couple Who Shoved Fire Poker Down Gay Magistrate's Throat Gets Jail

A homophobic couple, who tortured a gay man at his residence, has been jailed by a UK court.

The Canterbury Crown Court Monday found Stuart Holland and his partner Joanna Bath guilty of actual bodily harm and theft after they brutally assaulted Vince McMahan, 58, a former magistrate and city councilor, at his residence in March 2019, reports Kent Online.

McMahan died 18 months later of causes unrelated to the attack.

The couple assaulted McMahan after he revealed his sexuality in a heartfelt newspaper interview with the Kentish Gazette in June 2018. In the interview, he had narrated how he realized he "couldn’t live a lie anymore" after suffering a heart attack in a queer bar.

Months after McMahan's self-disclosure, Holland, a carpenter, along with his wife Bath, visited the magistrate's residence. McMahan invited the pair inside as Holland had previously done some work for him.

"While all were sitting in the living room, Stuart Holland made a comment about Vincent McMahan’s sexuality,” Prosecutor James Ross told the court.

He then repeatedly slapped McMahan, calling him "queer" before thrashing him with a fire-poker. "Holland used that poker to begin striking McMahan’s right leg a few times - this caused cuts and soreness. After Holland used the poker, Bath then got up and slapped McMahan a few times, she then took an implement from her handbag and used this to hit McMahan on the back of the head,” the prosecutor said.

The couple called McMahan “a pervert” and when he tried fleeing, Holland intensified his campaign of humiliation. "It was at this point Holland grabbed him and inserted the poker into his mouth, causing him to gag," Ross told the court.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and theft.

After the attack, a perturbed McMahan called the police and said: "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. This incident has made me very wary to leave my address in case I bump into [the couple] in the street."

Sentencing the couple, Judge James O’Mahony said: “Mr McMahan tried to dial 999 to get help but that was prevented by Joanne Bath snatching the phone and preventing him from doing so. Stuart Holland then grabbed Mr MacMahan (and) inserted the poker into his mouth causing him to gag."

The judge said the homophobic nature of the attack pushed the deserved punishment “above the sentencing guidelines." 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.

While Holland was handed three years for actual bodily harm and theft, Bath was given 27 months for the same offenses, alongside an additional three years in jail for previous drugs and shoplifting offenses.