One charged and another arrested following hate crime attack in Smethwick

Content Warning: This article includes details of a suspected homophobic hate crime

West Midlands Police have a charged a teenager (17) with attempted murder, and arrested a second teenage boy (also 17), following an attack on a man in Smethwick. The victim, in his 50s, remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition after being attacked at around 8.30pm on 14^th June on St Paul’s Road, Smethwick.

Anyone with information is urged to get in touch with us by calling 101 quoting incident number 3929 of 14 June

In light of new information shared with WMP, the attempted murder is now being treated as a hate crime motivated by Sexual Orientation due to reports of homophobic comments made during the attack. West Midlands Police add that there is no evidence that the attack was motivated by race or religion.

The first 17-year-old was arrest in Leeds and bought in for questioning on 17^th June. He appeared before magistrates in Birmingham today (19^th). He has been remanded into youth detention and will next appear before Birmingham Crown Court on 17^th July.

Meanwhile, a second 17-year-old boy was arrested just before 4am today in the Dudley area. He remains in custody on suspicion of attempted murder and will be questioned in due course.

Chief Superintendent Kim Madill, of Sandwell Police, said: “I know the real concern and anger that this attack has caused in the area, and I’ve been in touch with representatives from the community throughout the week to reassure them that we are doing everything we can to establish what happened and who was responsible.”

Officers from the Major Crime Unit continue to investigate. They urge anyone who may have been in the Tollhouse Way or St Pauls area at the time or has any information to get in touch with us by calling 101 quoting incident number 3929 of 14 June, or submit any relevant photos, videos and information directly to officers via the dedicated web page.