Teenage girl faces jail for gay killing

Ruby Thomas, 18, was yesterday found guilty of the manslaughter of Ian Baynham, 62, who died 18 days after the drink-fuelled assault in London's Trafalgar Square.

Police later found his blood smeared on her handbag and the ballet pumps she was wearing as she kicked him.

The court heard she smiled as she "put the boot into" Mr Baynham after he was knocked to the ground by another teenager, Joel Alexander.

Thomas's ex-boyfriend told the Old Bailey that the blonde teenager, of Anerley, south-east London, was "not the type of girl" to have done it. But jurors did not agree and convicted her of manslaughter, along with Alexander, 20, of Thornton Heath, south-east London.

A third defendant, Rachael Burke, 18, of Upper Norwood, south-east London, was found guilty of affray at an earlier trial.

Thomas, a former pupil at 12,000-a-year Sydenham High School for Girls, had a previous record for violence. She was just 15 when she assaulted a bus driver in 2007.

On the night Mr Baynham was attacked in September 2009 Thomas was said to have been "off her face", acting in a "lairy, mouthy" way, and flirting with random men.

The court heard that Thomas screamed "f****** faggots" at the victim and his friend Philip Brown. When Mr Baynham confronted her, there was a scuffle during which she hit him with her handbag and he grabbed it.

Alexander then ran up and knocked him to the ground, causing a severe brain injury as his head struck the pavement.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: "That did not suffice. There is evidence that the female defendants then began putting the boot into Mr Baynham, who was still prone on his back, clearly unconscious and in distress."

Thomas looked distraught as the verdicts were returned and put her head in her hands.

Both defendants will be sentenced in the new year.