Man jailed for killing stranger in gay encounter

A man has been jailed for three years for strangling a stranger with his own scarf during a gay tryst.

James Foley, 21, of Dartford, had been at a central London strip club when he slipped away and agreed to go to a garden with a 26-year-old Algerian national Fathi Bouchareb, the News Shopper reports.

Foley, who was engaged to a woman, secretly left Spearmint Rhino and met Mr Bouchareb outside G-A-Y before they went to Bedford Square in nearby Bloomsbury.

He then strangled Mr Bouchareb with his own scarf and left him for dead in the square before returning to Spearmint Rhino. His body was found the following morning.

Foley, who was said to be “worse for wear in drink”, told the court that he went to the square for sexual activity but said he had never had a gay sexual experience before.

In his defence, he said that the victim had attacked him and tried to steal his Rolex watch.

He was cleared of murder and found guilty of manslaughter.

Judge Christopher Moss told him that although he was entitled to defend himself, what he did “went beyond reasonable self defence”.

“You summoned no assistance. You left him for dead,” he said.

Foley was sentenced to three and a half years in jail but may be freed by January 2012.