Australian Inmate Who Murdered Gay Man Eight Years Ago Escapes And Attacks Another Man In Same Manner, British Catholic Priest Battles To Have Law Allowing Gay Panic Defence Struck Out, Spain’s First Gay Retirement Home Clears Initial Hurdle, Elton John Wants Justin Timberlake To Play Him In “Surreal” Bio-Picture, Birthday Boy Peter Brant Junior

In Australia, a prisoner who tied up and stabbed a man to death eight years ago has absconded from a psychiatric facility and is at large, wanted for binding and assaulting a lover during a gay sexual encounter on the anniversary - almost to the day - of his original killing. But the police did not put out a national alert until contacted by The Sydney Moring Herald Monday, three days after the alleged assault was reported. Trent Jennings, now 26, was found not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness after tying Giuseppe Vitale at the hands and feet and stabbing him in the neck during a drug-induced psychosis in 2003 at a park in Narwee in Sydney's south. Last Friday, he was reported to police for allegedly binding a 50-year-old man at Zetland before stealing his car. It was not until yesterday afternoon, after repeated calls from the Herald, that police released an official, nationwide appeal for assistance over the alleged assault. The appeal came after authorities alerted the public to the escape of two minimum security prisoners from Parklea, missing less than 15 hours. The police last night defended the delay in alerting the public to Jennings's escape, saying there were fears he may flee the country and “sensitive operational and investigative concerns.” The Police Minister, Michael Gallacher, would not comment for operational reasons. Jennings, who was in custody as a mental health prisoner at Morisset near Newcastle, failed to return from day release last Friday, the eighth anniversary of Mr Vitale's killing. The Herald has learnt that the Zetland man, who like Mr Vitale met his attacker online, was tied up before his Mercedes four-wheel-drive was allegedly stolen. The man reported the alleged attack the next night and police say his car was last seen at Upper Warrell Creek, south of Coffs Harbour, on Friday night. A warrant has been issued for Jennings's arrest. Last year the Mental Health Review Tribunal relaxed conditions for his incarceration, allowing him to leave Morisset Hospital on day release with strict conditions, the Herald understands. But he returned late from leave last Thursday and disappeared on Friday. NSW Police have now alerted other states. According to Supreme Court documents, Jennings, then 18, was working as a waiter when he met Mr Vitale, 32, in a gay chat room on December 30, 2003. That night Mr Vitale drove to Jennings's home in Narwee to pick him up. In his backpack Jennings was carrying condoms, lubricant, amyl nitrate, rope and a serrated, 11-centimetre-blade knife. Jennings was tied up initially. But after Mr Vitale was bound, Jennings plunged the knife 8 centimetres into his neck, striking an artery and jugular vein. The killer ran away and by 11:42 pm that night was on the internet again. Mr Vitale, still bound, stumbled to a road and cried out for help. He died soon after paramedics arrived at 11:45pm. Jennings told psychiatrists he had taken several ecstasy tablets and injected amphetamines before meeting Mr Vitale, court documents state. He said he had begun hallucinating and hearing voices while he was with Vitale. The doctors concluded he was suffering a drug-induced psychosis or had an acute schizophrenic illness triggered by the drugs.

In England, Catholic priest Paul Kelly has launched a petition to change the laws allowing allegations of a homosexual advance to be used as a defence for murder. According to The Ipswich Advertiser, Father Kelly said he launched the petition last week after writing to the Attorney-General's department asking for the so-called "gay panic" defence to be struck out of law. "The Attorney-General wrote back and said they were looking at a few changes to it, but I felt it wasn't enough," Fr Kelly said. "This loophole needs definitive closing - we've had the defence raised twice in as many years just in Maryborough, and I can't understand why it is allowed by the law." The petition has gathered more than 375 signatures in a matter of days, and he will forward it to all members of the State Government and the LNP's Campbell Newman when 5000 people have signed it. Fr Kelly became interested in the cause after the defence was used in the trial of two men who killed a man in the grounds of his church in 2008. Wayne Robert Ruks was bashed to death by Richard Meerdink and Jason Pierce in 2008, and the men claimed in court that Ruks had made an unwanted gay advance. The topic came under the spotlight again last year in a murder trial following the death of Stephen Ward, a hitch-hiker who was killed in 2008. Although the "homosexual advance" claim was not offered as a defence for accused killer John Patrick Peterson, the court heard the bashing was initiated because Peterson was provoked by a gay come-on made by the hitch-hiker. Fr Kelly said even raising the defence in court could be prejudicial as it might tap into any intolerant or homophobic views held by jury members. "It needs to be completely wiped from the law books and not tolerated in our system of justice in which the rule of law is supposed to assume a paramount position," he said. "Nobody should be bashed or killed because they don't share someone else's views." He said his colleagues in the church had been supportive.

A group of elderly Spanish gay men are rebelling against the homophobia of their generation by setting up what will be the country's first gay and lesbian retirement home. "Homosexuals who go into homes often also have to go straight back into the closet," said Federico Armenteros, the man behind the scheme. "This will be a place that is open to everyone and where no one will have to hide their sexuality." In a country where many people over 40 grew up being taught that gay people were sick or criminals, the atmosphere in some retirement homes is still crudely homophobic. According to The Guardian, Armenteros, who heads a gay and lesbian NGO called December 26, has already found a site for the new retirement complex, with land being ceded by the leftwing town hall of Rivas-Vaciamadrid, a Madrid dormitory town. Now he needs to find 120 like-minded people to sign up as members of the co-operative and start paying the quotas needed to raise a bank mortgage. Around 20 have already joined. "We'll have a gym, a library, a laundrette and a conference room," he said. "We will even have our own shop and restaurant." The retirement home would cost €1,000 (£834) a month to live in, he said – much lower than the average Madrid price of €1,400. It will have 30 staff to look after the 230 residents in the 120 apartments and studios in the complex, with some set aside for people who are HIV positive. "Most homes simply won't let them in," he explained. Armenteros insisted that it would not be a place only for gay, lesbian or transsexual people. "What we want is a space of tolerance, where anybody can come," said Armenteros. His NGO, named after the day in 1978 when gay men were finally removed from a law against people deemed "socially dangerous", has already found that single elderly women are happy to join their weekends away at Spanish seaside resorts. "They seem to feel secure with us," he said. And younger people will also be welcome – though they will be expected to lend a hand in the co-operative's work. Among those to have contacted the NGO are a 90-year-old transsexual fed up with her current Madrid retirement home. "I imagine she needs somewhere where she can feel to talk about her life and her experiences, or even explain why her body is like it is and how she was operated on," he said. "Old people need to be able to talk about their lives openly." José María Herreras, a resident at another Madrid retirement home has also joined the list, complaining that other residents either ignore or insult him. Nobody will share a room with him, so he must have one of his own. "I am alone," he said. "They come from a generation that was brought up to think that there was something filthy and wrong about homosexuality," said Armenteros. "Older gays and lesbians have had a difficult life. We were downtrodden in the Franco years and many people were arrested. It took years for us to win our rights," he said. "We refuse to go back to that atmosphere when we retire." A spokesman for Rivas-Vaciamadrid town hall, Emilio Silva, said the retirement home had passed through council planning procedures without causing a scandal. "This is a tolerant town," he said. "We put the land out to tender for people to come up with projects that were socially useful, and this is the one that won. It seems perfectly normal to us." But the gay and lesbian retirement home is such a new concept in Europe that the town hall has received phone calls from potential residents from as far away as Switzerland. "A Spaniard living in Switzerland who planned to retire soon saw it on the television there and rang me," said Silva. "He was very enthusiastic." But Armenteros admits that, despite the power of both the gay euro and the grey euro, Spain's economic crisis means it is hard work finding people ready to invest in the co-operative. "If we don't get enough people, then our NGO will take ownership of the rest of it and rent apartments out," he said. If all goes well, he added, the residence will be up and running by 2014. The NGO sees Rivas-Vaciamadrid as just a first step. "If this works, we will start looking at other places," he said. "Benidorm is one possible choice, as is Sitges – which is a popular gay resort."

Elton John has revealed he wants Justin Timberlake to play him in a forthcoming film about his life. The Daily Telegraph reports that the 60 year old star said the Social Network star is top of his wish list. He said Timberlake had been "superb" while portraying him in a video of his song Rocket Man. John and his partner David Furnish are producing the biopic, which has the provisional title of Rocket Man. It will tell the story of the flamboyant singer's rise to fame and include many of his biggest hits, including Your Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road John said a major announcement about the film will be made in the coming weeks but he said a director had already been chosen. Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot and a co-writer of the Christmas box office hit War Horse has penned the script. John said the film would be a "jukebox musical" about his life. "It's going to be a surreal look at my life, and not just a factual look at my life, more in the manner of a Moulin Rouge!, said John. "I just don't want it to be a normal biopic because my life hasn't been like that," adding, "We're making an announcement about that very, very soon. We have a director on board, and then it's just going to be a matter of getting the script exactly the way we want it."

The openly gay Peter Brant Junior celebrated his 18th birthday Friday, and The Huffington Post chronicles his fashion evolution to date.