Court uproar as gang jailed for stab killing of youth, 16

Only one of the youths had stabbed Nicholas Pearton and the others complained they had been wrongly convicted of murder and manslaughter.

But Judge Anthony Morris said they had all taken part in “a terrifying example of gang violence”.

He criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for not doing enough to make young people aware of the consequences of running with gangs where knives are carried.

He demanded a report to show what the CPS was going to do to reach young people in schools.

Told the police already had a programme, Judge Morris said: “It seems to me the message is not getting through to them.

“It seems to me that we are not addressing a major issue.”

The judge lifted an order banning the identities of the defendants. Dale Green, 17, Lamarr Gordon, 17, and Joseph Appiah, 16, were given life terms for murder.

They were ordered to be detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure with minimum terms of 15 years for Green, the person identified as doing the stabbing, 14 years for Gordon and 12 years for Appiah.

All the defendants were from south-east London.

Four defendants were convicted of manslaughter – Terell Clement, 18, was jailed for 10 years, Claude Gaha, 17, and Demar Brown, 16, were given eight years and Edward Conteh, 17, was given seven years.

Gordon’s older brother, Sheldon Gordon, 23, of Bromley, was given a 12-month suspended sentence for perverting justice by hiding bloodstained clothes.

Nicholas died in May last year after being hunted down by a gang of schoolchildren, many of them still wearing their uniforms.

He ran out into the road but was caught and stabbed through the heart in front of horrified onlookers.

After staggering into a shop, he lay dying behind the door as his distraught parents were unable to reach him, the court heard.

The attack came after children from two local gangs fell out at school earlier in the day.

After Nicholas’s friend was confronted in Home Park, Sydenham, south London, he sent out a message on his mobile phone for help.

But soon after he arrived, others fled and Nicholas was targeted by members of the Shanks and Guns gang.

Although the only white boy in the park, Nicholas was friendly with the rival Black Mafia group, also known as the Sydenham Boys.

After the killing, Green was seen triumphantly waving a knife over his head.

And as the defendants made off on buses, Lamarr Gordon was seen shaking Green’s hand, congratulating him on what he had done and calling him “the new young boss”.

Judge Morris praised the dignity of Nicholas’s family and said: “The chasing group were like a pack of wild dogs chasing its prey.

“This was a particularly cowardly act as he was unarmed and alone. They saw him as an easy target.”

Nicholas was learning carpentry at a local college and was due to start work with his father, Vincent.