Violent Youth / Violent Crime - nothing new

Ernest Norton, 67, suffered a heart attack in Erith, south-east London, when he was pelted with stones and sticks by a group of over 20 youths.

An Old Bailey jury heard Mr Norton was hit on the head at least twice.

Five boys now aged between 12 and 14, none of them had been in trouble with the police before. were found guilty of manslaughter of Mr Norton and violent disorder today .

Mr Norton was preparing to set up to play cricket with his 17-year-old son James in a tennis court outside Erith Leisure Centre in 18 months ago in February 2006 when they were atacked by the gang.

Only one of the accused, now aged 14, gave evidence at the trial. He admitted spitting at Mr Norton and that it was "stupid", "revolting" and "appalling".

They will be sentenced on 19th October.

Violence by the young is not new, or it appears remarkable, ... few around here forget the case of Mrs Lilley.

Sarah Davey, and Lisa Healey, both aged 15, murdered Lily Lilley, 71, from Failsworth, Greater Manchester, in September 1998.

They knew their victim after she met the pair on the street, and walked her home. They squirted shampoo in her eyes and bundled her into the house, then gagged her and she choked on her own dentures.

The pair later put the woman's body in a wheelie bin and pushed it, "laughing and giggling", through the streets and eventually dumped it into the Rochdale Canal, where it was discovered three days later with injuries consistent with kicking, punching and stabbing.

In a pocket a photograph was found of her only son in his pram.

The prosecution told the court that they intended to take over her house and use it to entertain men.After the killing the two girls moved into Mrs Lilley's house on West Street, in Failsworth and treated it as their own using the telephone to make 258 calls. The older girl tol neighbours she was Mrs Lilley's granddaughter.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Sachs, in sentencing the pair in July 1999 said they should be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure, described the crime as "unspeakably wicked".

He added, "You have not shown the slightest trace of remorse or regret. You are both hard young women who have committed a terrible crime which almost defies belief by right-thinking people. Your only mitigation are your ages. You are both 15."

They appealed (Pic Manchester E.News Healey on left) against the length of sentence, in October 2002 - having appealed against conviction and lost in May 2001, At the second appeal , England's most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Woolf, named them (they had not been named at the trial or first appeal) at the Court of Appeal in London. He set the minimum amount of time they must stay in prison as at least eight years. (So they may now be out of prison)

After considering prison reports and legal arguments he told the court that Healey had failed a drugs test in custody, but was viewed by prison staff as quiet and polite, and had apologised for what she had done. Davey's behaviour in custody was described as "mixed", and that she only had a "limited understanding or acceptance of the gravity of the offence".

We don't need to read the allegorical works of William Golding to be reminded of how violent children can be.