A man brutally attacked by homophobes during a night out in Norwich city centre has been left suffering from a badly broken ankle.
Alexander Paton, 30, was walking home from Prince of Wales Road on Friday night (December 20), when a small group of men passed him and his girlfriend and started making "foul, homophobic comments" towards their friends.
Mr Paton's girlfriend, Grace McCourt, said: "We almost let it slide but neither Alex nor me could let it go so he calmly approached them.
"He let them know that what they were saying isn't okay.
"He didn't touch them, he didn't swear, he didn't call them names.
"These people physically attacked him and now Alex has a badly broken ankle."
Mr Paton lives and works in Norwich as a DJ and barman.
More recently he has started working to support rough sleepers.
He said: "It's unfortunate. My leg is in a brace and it is a really bad break of the ankle itself.
"So this is what you get for verbally standing up to homophobes.
"We are in contact with the police and hope to find out who did this.
"Be careful, people, but never stop standing up for those who need it."
Ms McCourt said she was "very proud" to call Alex her boyfriend, and she added: "Don't worry, he's got plenty of homemade sausage rolls to ease the pain."
A spokesperson for Norfolk Constabulary said police could not comment as their investigation into the assault is still ongoing.
However, they did state: "If any hate crime or assault is reported to us we take that very seriously and it will be investigated.
"Any crime is investigated thoroughly but we really take hate crime seriously and encourage people reporting it."
Anyone who witnessed the attack or who has information should contact Norfolk Police on 101 quoting crime reference 36/88900/19.
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