TWO men face minimum 30-year jail terms after yesterday admitting the homophobic murder of Jody Dobrowski on Clapham Common.

Scott Walker, 33, a decorator, and Thomas Pickford, 25, who is unemployed, changed their pleas to guilty when they appeared at the Old Bailey. Judge Brian Barker, QC, the Common Serjeant of London, remanded them in custody for sentence on June 16.

Mr Dobrowski, 24, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, died after he was punched and kicked to death in a ferocious attack on Clapham Common in South London, an area known for gay pick-ups, on October 16.

The automatic sentence for murder is life. Crispin Aylett, for the prosecution, said that 30 years should be the judge’s starting point in considering sentence for such an “appalling” crime. “This was a murder aggravated by sexual orientation. I do not think it is disputed, on the defendants’ part, that is the case,” Mr Aylett said.

The sentencing will be closely watched by gay campaigners. This was the most prominent attack since the Criminal Justice Act came into effect last year, requiring courts to treat “hostility based on sexual orientation” as an aggravating factor.

The pair had been involved in an assault on another man in the area two weeks earlier. He had suffered swelling to his cheek and eyelid.

“Both were involved in a premeditated plan to attack a gay man. There was no premeditation to kill him but the attack quickly increased in ferocity,” Mr Aylett said. “We say both men were involved as principals. We say there was a shared intent to kill, from the nature of the assault and the evidence of an eyewitness.”

The prosecution said that a witness suggested that the stocky, tattooed Walker, from Clapham, was more aggressive.

After being arrested, Pickford, of no fixed address, admitted involvement in the attack and claimed that Walker had stuffed a sock and shoe into Mr Dobrowski’s mouth.

Although Walker refused to answer police questions, forensic tests on traces of blood found on Mr Dobrowski’s shoe confirmed that he had been attacked in this way, Mr Aylett said. The killers could be heard by witnesses screaming anti-gay insults as they beat the barman to death.

The court was told that there was still discussion between lawyers on the basis of the men’s pleas.

After the hearing, Jaswant Narwal, the District Crown Prosecutor at the Old Bailey Trials Unit, said: “The murder of Jody Dobrowski was vicious and senseless. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) treated this case as a homophobic killing from the beginning. In our view Pickford and Walker attacked Jody in such a brutal fashion simply because of his sexuality and he was a completely innocent victim of their extreme violence.

“In any case, where there is a proven homophobic element, the CPS will not hesitate to bring this to the attention of the court.”

Mr Dobrowski, an assistant bar manager at Bar Risa Jongleurs, in Camden Lock, North London, was attacked shortly after midnight when his screams were heard by members of the public, who alerted police. He was alive when police discovered him in woodland. He died in hospital from such severe head, neck and facial injuries that his family was unable to recognise him. He was formally identified by his fingerprints.

Scotland Yard had stepped up patrols on the common after other homophobic attacks.

The first survey of homophobic crime by the CPS has identified 317 cases prosecuted in England and Wales in a year, with a 71 per cent conviction rate.

Mr Dobrowski, who was described as a popular, intelligent and considerate “man of peace”, studied biology at Cardiff University but decided to leave for bar work. He lived in East London and had been visiting friends and former workmates in Battersea, South London, on October 14 last year, before visiting the common.

Clapham’s nightlife has made it an increasingly popular destination for gay men, with bars and clubs opening in recent years. The influx of gay revellers has made the area a magnet for “queer-bashers”.

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