6:59am Friday 6th July 2007
By Neil Docking
A CROSS-DRESSER mistaken for a stalker will be scarred for life after his nose was cut and broken during an assault.
It was the first time the man had ventured out of his home in women's clothes.
Lee Carney, aged 26, of Grizedale Avenue, in Orford, attacked the man after wrongly assuming the cross-dresser was following his girlfriend.
Warrington Crown Court heard on Monday how the victim had worn women's clothing at home, mainly at weekends, for many years.
But on March 3 this year the transvestite went for a walk wearing a black blouse, red skirt and black tights underneath a man's jacket, along with a short black wig, man's shoes and an umbrella.
Caroline Harris, prosecuting, said he was noticed while walking along Poplars Avenue.
She said: "He feared he was spotted, so he freaked out and started to run."
Following a distressed phone call from his girlfriend, Carney challenged the cross-dresser, asking him, Why have you followed my girlfriend?' before chasing after him, along with a second man who blocked his path.
Carney's friend struck the man in the face with a wooden object and the man fell to the ground. The attackers kicked him in the ribs and head, knocking him back down when he got to his feet. Eventually he managed to get to a doorway where he was helped by residents.
Hospitalised with fractures to his nose and cheekbone, the attack has left the man too frightened to leave his home, on a soft food diet and reliant on sleeping tablets. He is on a waiting list for psychological therapy.
However, he told police: "I do not believe that the two males attacked me because of the way I was dressed."
And Michael Davies, defending, said that his client had not realised the man was wearing women's clothing, but that when he ran off it seemed to reinforce the suspicion' that he was stalking his girlfriend.
He said: "This is not a homophobic attack or about cross-dressing or beating people up because they seem part of a different group."
Carney, who had two previous convictions for common assault in 2003, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Sentencing him to 80 hours unpaid work, Judge David Hale said: "Whatever the background there was no excuse for hitting the man without talking to him first."
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