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They were ‘gay martyrs’ put on trial for an act none of them realised was a crime.

In February 1998 seven men stood in the dock at Bolton Crown Court accused of consensual gay sex in the privacy of their own homes.

Gary Abdie, David Godfrey, Mark Love, Norman Williams, Jonathan Moore, Craig Turner and Terry Connell were all either current or former lovers, friends or loose acquaintances aged between 17 and 53.

While homosexual activity was legal in this country at the time, a little-known aspect of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act ruled it was illegal when 'more than two persons take part or are present’.

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As such, the so-called ‘Bolton 7’ became embroil

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