Youngest member, 14, from 'gang of youths' sentenced to 6 years for brutally killing 17-year-old with machetes
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: The Old Bailey Court has sentenced the youngest member of the "gang of youths" to six years behind the bars, after he pleaded guilty of manslaughter. Levi Ernest Morrison, 17, who had autism was brutally murdered with machetes after being chased by the group of youths loaded with three machetes and a knife, last year. The incident took place in south London.
Mother Nichola Leighton and her son Tyreese Ulysses were already booked after the court had found them guilty of killing the teenager for a minimum term of 23 years and 13 years, plus five years on the extended license, respectively.
READ MORE
Shannon Brandt: ND man kills teen over political dispute, claims victim was 'Republican extremist'
It was a revenge attack, where Nichola Leighton had driven the teen to the scene, where the teen with other group members murdered Levi mercilessly. In the investigation, it was found that Leighton lost her cool after the victim and his friends continuously knocked on her door while looking for her son. It was in relation to a "taunting video" by her son and Alex Sprules.
The jurors were also told, that she had decided to "batter them, once the boys were back," the police. It was Sprules who caught Levi and stabbed him first, before Ulysses and the 14-year-old returned after chasing his friend.
Sprules, 18, had been jailed up for at least 20 years for murder, whereas a 16-year-old boy who made Levi trip over and fall post his attack with a machete is detained for life with a minimum of 16 years for murder. Other than six years in prison, the youngest member of the gang will have to serve a further five years on an extended license.
Judge Peter Rook told the teen during the hearing, “These offences including your offence of manslaughter are truly grave offences. They are a further example of knife crime which has become the scourge of some of our cities. From videos downloaded from mobile handsets and YouTube it is clear that this grave offence was committed in the context of gang rivalry. However petty the rivalry was between the groups of teenagers, it was characterised by the use of lethal weapons.”
The judge also considered the fact that the defendant had suffered from modern slavery and neglect as a child, who inspires to be an actor-musician.