Guilty: The teenage girl who smiled as she kicked gay civil servant to death during d
- Former public schoolgirl screamed 'F****** faggots' at victim before attack
- Shocked onlookers saw man being punched to the ground and repeatedly kicked by trio of attackers
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/12/969.jpg The court heard Ruby Thomas, 18, screamed 'f***ing faggots' before kicking the victim as he lay on the floor. She is pictured in April this year
A former public schoolgirl who hurled homophobic abuse at a gay civil servant before kicking and stamping on him during a deadly attack was facing jail today.
Ruby Thomas, 18, was found guilty of the manslaughter of 62-year-old Ian Baynham, who died 18 days after the drink-fuelled assault in London's Trafalgar Square.
Police later found his blood smeared on her handbag and the ballet pumps she was wearing as she kicked him.
The court heard she smiled as she 'put the boot into' Mr Baynham after he was knocked to the ground by another teenager, Joel Alexander.
Thomas's ex-boyfriend told the Old Bailey that the blonde teenager, of Anerley, south east London, was 'not the type of girl' to have done it.
But jurors did not agree and convicted her of manslaughter, along with Alexander, 20, of Thornton Heath, south east London.
A third defendant, 18-year-old Rachael Burke, of Upper Norwood, south east London, was found guilty of affray at an earlier trial.
On the night Mr Baynham was attacked in September last year Thomas was said to have been 'off her face', acting in a 'lairy, mouthy' way, and flirting with random men.
The court heard that Thomas screamed 'f faggots' at the victim and his friend Philip Brown.
When Mr Baynham confronted her, there was a scuffle during which she hit him with her handbag and he grabbed it.
Alexander then ran up and knocked him to the ground, causing a severe brain injury as his head struck the pavement.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: 'That did not suffice. There is evidence that the female defendants then began putting the boot into Mr Baynham, who was still prone on his back, clearly unconscious and in distress.'
He said the girls were 'fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol' and one witness likened the attack to a scene from the film A Clockwork Orange.
'Shocked onlookers saw repeated stamping to his chest and forceful kicks to his head,' said Mr Altman.
Both defendants will be sentenced in the new year.
Mr Baynham was in the first week of a new job as a team leader in border control at the Home Office when he was killed.
The day before the attack, he had phoned his sister Jenny Baynham and told her how much he was enjoying the new role.
She was at his bedside when he died from a brain injury sustained during the assault, together with Mr Baynham's friend George Richardson.
Mr Richardson described the victim as 'a perfectly normal man who just happened to be gay'.
The court heard that the teenagers who attacked him had been drinking before they set upon him outside South Africa House on September 25 last year.
One witness overheard the group talking about two other men walking past them earlier holding hands, with one of the girls saying 'We can do them' and a youth replying 'Of course we can'.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/12/970.jpg Ian Baynham, 62, who suffered fatal head injuries in an assault close to the South African High Commission, in Trafalgar Square
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Guilty: Joel Alexander, 19, arriving at the Old Bailey in London. He was found guilty of Mr Baynham's manslaughter. Rachael Burke, 18, of Three Oaks, East Sussex, convicted of affray
Thomas had carried out a previous drunken attack when she was 15, on an Asian bus driver, near the spot where she attacked Mr Baynham.
She punched, kicked and spat at Aasim Shah as he took his break in Northumberland Avenue in December 2007, later pleading guilty to common assault as well as possession of a bladed article, and was given a nine-month referral order.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/12/973.jpg The ballet pump shoes worn by Ruby Thomas on the night of the attack on Ian Baynham. Spots of his blood were found on the shoes
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/12/974.jpg Evidence: The handbag used by Ruby Thomas on the night of the attack. The straps were torn during the confrontation
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/12/975.jpg Ruby Thomas (front) and Rachael Burke in Hungerford Bridge lift after the attack on Ian Baynham
Ruby Thomas, 19, guilty of drunk attack killing gay civil servant in Trafalgar Square | Mail Online
