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Youths jailed for
12 years for beating man to death during London
violence spree

Youths jailed for
12 years for beating man to death during London
violence spree

Three youths in London were sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison for beating to death a man who had survived the fatal nail-bombing of a British gay pub seven years ago. Barman David Morley, 37, was attacked by a gang of youths in central London in October 2004. Reece Sargeant, 21; Darren Case, 18; and David Blenman, 17, were sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. A fourth teen, 16-year-old Chelsea O'Mahoney, received an eight-year sentence. Prosecutors said the gang beat and kicked eight people in five separate attacks in central London within an hour on October 30, 2004, a spree some commentators compared to the violence in Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange. Passing sentence, Judge Brian Barker said the four had recorded one of their attacks on a mobile phone, a practice known as "happy slapping." "No victim on the receiving end would dignify it with such a deceptive description," the judge said. "Each of your victims was totally innocent and taken totally by surprise. You behaved with total indifference to those who crossed your path in the heart of London," he added. "No citizen of this country should be in fear of or subjected to this sort of behavior." Morley was working at the Admiral Duncan gay pub in London's Soho district when it was bombed by right-wing extremist David Copeland in April 1999. Three people were killed and 73 injured, and Morley suffered minor burns to his hands. (AP)

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