Fridae

A 37-year-old man who lived and worked at a pub in Chiswick, west London died after he and a friend were badly beaten near Westminster Bridge on London's South Bank on Saturday. Six others, including one woman, were hurt in assaults that took place in a 15-minute period.

London police were last night searching for two teenage assailants who launched a series of brutal attacks on gay men along London's South Bank, leaving one dead and others injured.

David Morley suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital following the 15-minute frenzy of assaults close to the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday. Police said the victim was subjected to a "savage beating" and a post mortem examination confirmed he died from multiple injuries.

Detectives are treating the assaults as hate crimes after identifying several of the victims as gay men, and say that homophobic motives are a "definite line of inquiry."

According to media reports, detectives said six people, five of them men, were beaten with fists, feet and improvised weapons, in four separate incidents near the Thames. It is believed that several of those injured had been walking back to the Waterloo area from Heaven, a leading gay nightclub under Charing Cross station.

Police said that the two teenaged male assailants - one white and one black - accompanied by two young women, stole property from two victims, although it was unclear whether the two women took part in the assaults.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Scola said the first attack was at 3.15am on Saturday when a 35-year-old man sitting alone in Jubilee Gardens by the London Eye was battered over the head with an unidentified object. Shortly afterwards, a 29-year-old man and a 25-year-old man were attacked near Hungerford Bridge and suffered minor injuries.

At around 3.30am, a few metres from the scene of the two earlier assaults, Morley and his 29-year-old male friend were beaten. Both men were taken to hospital, with the younger man treated for minor wounds while Morley who suffered more than 40 bruises died at St Thomas' Hospital at 7.45pm on Saturday.

A report in the Evening Standard revealed that Morley was a survivor of the 1999 nail bombing at the Admiral Duncan gay pub in Soho which killed three and injured over 70 people.

Passers-by also witnessed an unidentified woman, who has yet to come forward, being punched in the face on the steps of Hungerford Bridge.

Scola said: "All the victims were returning home from evenings out. The attacks were violent and random."

He warned of similar incidents if the gang remained at large: "The unprecedented nature of these attacks mean the assailants could strike again and it's important we identify and arrest them as soon as possible."

Police urge any witnesses or other victims to contact them.

In 1999, Timothy Baxter, a law student, and his friend Gabriel Cornish, both 24, were mugged by a gang of six on their way home from a party. Baxter was beaten unconscious and thrown into the Thames from the same bridge, and drowned while his friend survived the ordeal.