Judge slams teenagers who killed 'for fun'

Recorder of Sheffield Alan Goldsack QC told Sheffield Crown Court Colin Greenwood was "kicked to death" by Lewis Barlow, aged 14, and Leon Gray, 15, in front of horrified tram passengers.

The identities of the pair, who were found guilty of his murder by a jury at an earlier hearing, were revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted.

The youths were detained indefinitely and will not be considered for release for at least 12 years six months.

They picked on the 45-year-old partially-sighted dad because he was a known alcoholic who could be aggressive, the court heard.

Judge Goldsack said: "You decided you would have what one of you described to another as 'a bit of fun'."

They cornered Mr Greenwood at the end of the Middlewood tram terminus, where he was surrounded by railings.

Gray produced a knife, which he had earlier used to carve his name into a bus stop, and 'wondered aloud' whether he should use it – before they kicked and stamped on him instead.

Judge Goldsack said: "It was, throughout, a joint attack. The victim was first put to ground by Barlow, then each of you used your feet with intent to do really serious bodily harm,"

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He said Barlow stamped on Mr Greenwood's ribs 'with sufficient force to fracture several' then both youths kicked him 'forcibly in the head'.

"You had, in reality, kicked this man to death. It was gratuitous, unprovoked and sustained violence."

All that was done on a pleasant spring evening in full view of a number of witnesses waiting for the tram. They were horrified.

"Following the attack, on April 13, Mr Greenwood, who had visited his partner on Winn Gardens, caught a tram then a bus towards his Southey Green home.

But he collapsed as he got off and was rushed to the Northern General Hospital where he died in the early hours from a blood clot on the brain.Meanwhile, Barlow and Gray returned to their homes in Winn Gardens and boasted about the attack.

Judge Goldsack said: "Decent people were horrified.

"In so far as there is an explanation, it appears to come from your family backgrounds and the culture in which you have grown up.

"The yobs, who were dressed in black shirts and accompanied by social workers, showed no emotion as they were sentenced.

In the public gallery their relatives gasped and shook their heads as the judge outlined the "dysfunctional" family circumstances which had led the boys to commit their appalling crime.

The judge said the area where the pair had grown up had been described in some reports as having 'a high level of delinquency'.

He added Barlow and Gray were typical of youths in parts of some cities describing them as 'out of control, amoral and prepared to use gratuitous and mindless violence on vulnerable people'.

"I fear it will take a long time to change society so more children are brought up properly," he said.

"The decent and often silent majority want the courts to do what they can to address the problem of serious crime committed by ever younger offenders. We can remove individuals from society for a long time and, hopefully, that will be an effective deterrent."