Les deux hommes se sont mariés en costume dans la bibliothèque de la prison dans laquelle ils se sont rencontrés, en présence de quelques proches. Marc Goodwin, 31 ans, a été condamné en 2007 pour avoir battu à mort Malcolm Benfold, un homosexuel de 57 ans, sur la promenade de Blackpool, une ville côtière du nord-ouest de l’Angleterre. Marc Goodwin était à la tête d’un gang réputé pour ses actes de violence ciblant les gays.

Condamné-pour-un-meurtre-homophobe,-il-se-marie-avec-un-autre-détenuSon époux, Mikhail Gallatinov, 40 ans, a été condamné en 1997 à vingt ans de prison pour le meurtre d’Adrian Kaminsky. Il avait étranglé ce jeune homme de 28 ans après lui avoir donné rendez-vous sur un site de rencontre homosexuel. “Un meurtre cynique, glaçant”, avait déclaré le juge à l’époque. L’homme était également suivi par la police pour des faits de pédophilie.

Le frère de Malcolm Benfold, la victime de Marc Goodwin, a critiqué les autorités qui, selon lui, n’ont pas pris la peine de consulter les familles avant d’autoriser ce mariage. “Je suis dégoûté (…). Comment pouvez-vous tuer un homme pour son homosexualité, puis être autorisé a effectué un mariage gay en prison ? Je ne comprends pas la logique”, s’est énervé Tony Benfold. De son côté, le ministère de la Justice du Royaume-Uni a précisé que les jeunes mariés ne seraient pas autorisés à partager une cellule.

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>> Britain’s first same-sex prison marriage has taken place between two killers both serving time for homophobic attacks.

Marc Goodwin, 31, is serving life for kicking and punching Malcolm Benfold, 57, to death on Blackpool seafront in 2007.

He married Mikhail Gallatinov, a 40-year-old convicted paedophile, who was jailed for the murder of Adrian Kaminsky, 28, in Manchester in 1997 and his 20-year minimum term was upheld in 2009.

The pair are thought to have met in the prison library at HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire.

Both of the prisoners wore suits for the 15-minute jail chapel service which was attended by four relatives.

The brother of Goodwin’s victim Malcolm Benfold has now blasted the authorities for not consulting the families before agreeing to Britain’s first gay prison marriage.

Father-of-two Tony Benfold, 68, fumed: “I’m disgusted. I want to know why permission was granted for this to go ahead and why my family wasn’t consulted.

“We were never given a chance to say our piece.

“How can you go out and kill a man for being gay and then have a gay wedding in prison? I can’t see any logic in it.

“The other chap has only got 12 months left before his parole hearing while my brother’s killer has to serve another 10 years.

“It has crossed my mind that this could be a trick to get early release by showing they have built new lives.”

Goodwin battered Malcolm, from Walsall, West Midlands, to death in a gay hate killing and was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison for the murder.

Mr Benfold, who lives in Southampton, added: “The life sentence should have been a minimum of 25 years, especially when it’s such a violent attack.

“They kicked and punched my brother and stamped on his head.

“Instead they seem to get to do what they want in prison while my family are left to suffer.

“My sister has gone to visit him in prison and she’s more or less forgiven him but the one thing we do agree on is that this wedding shouldn’t have been allowed to take place.”

Goodwin, who said sorry to Tony’s sister Wendy Bridge, 64, when she visited him behind bars, is thought to have met his new husband in the prison’s library.

But speaking about the marriage, Wendy, of Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, said: “Murderers getting married to each other is wrong. They are not normal members of society.”

Gallatinov’s mother Christina Williams, 59, who was at the ceremony, said she was “proud” of her son for making history with the wedding.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the newlywed pair would not be allowed to share a cell.

Par Francetv info