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)