Man claims attack on Belfast house is gay hate crime

Paul Finlay-Dickson meets Lord Mayor of Belfast, Nichola Mallon, over the campaign of homophobic attacks on his house in north Belfast. Mr Finlay-Dickson recently lost his husband Maurice to cancer

BY NEVIN FARRELL – 08 JUNE 2015

A man has claimed that an attack on a house he was due to move in to in north Belfast was a homophobic hate crime.

Paul Finlay-Dickson said he has been the victim of a series of attacks and death threats and is now too scared to go to the property in the mainly loyalist Tiger’s Bay.
He said: “I am being attacked because of my sexual orientation. I am not the only gay man in Northern Ireland.
“This is a homophobic hate crime attack and something needs to be done about it because I can’t take much more,” he told the BBC.
At 2.10am on Saturday it was reported to police that a gang of men, one carrying a sledgehammer, were attacking a house in Cosgrave Heights. Damage was caused to a door and a number of windows were smashed. There was nobody in the house at the time.
Earlier this year a gay rights movement ‘Rainbow’ flag due to be placed on the coffin of Mr Finlay-Dickson’s deceased civil partner, who died of cancer, was covered in faeces by attackers.