Uganda gay sex case Briton Bernard Randall returns home

Bernard Randall, 65, from Faversham in Kent, had denied a charge of trafficking obscene publications. On Wednesday Judge Hellen Ajio ordered that he should be deported from Uganda.

Bernard Randall in custody

Mr Randall, who would have faced a possible two-year prison sentence if found guilty, said he was feeling tired after his journey. Mr Randall, who first appeared in court in Uganda in November, was charged alongside Albert Cheptoyek, 34, a Ugandan national with whom he shared a house.

Mr Cheptoyek has denied a more serious charge of carrying out “acts of gross indecency”, which could see him jailed for up to seven years if found guilty. ‘Always crying’ “I feel lonely now as I used to be with Bernard all the time,” he said.

“I feel as if I’m not going to see him again. I’m always crying. “I’m scared to go outside the house. My life is in danger as people are pointing me out on the streets. My case is going on. “I don’t know what the government is going to do to me,” he added.

“Bernard is being deported because he’s gay. I don’t know how I’m going to live in Uganda.” Mr Randall was arrested after thieves stole a laptop from his house. Stills from a video on it then appeared in a tabloid newspaper in the country.

His friends campaigned to get him back to the UK, with his case drawing support from comedian Stephen Fry and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

Last week, Uganda’s president refused to approve a controversial bill to toughen punishments for homosexuals in Uganda, where homosexual acts are already illegal.

It would have made it a crime not to report gay people – and even talking about homosexuality without criticising it would have become punishable by a prison term.

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