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| ‘Boredom drove happy slapping
gang to murder’ |
Old Bailey jury told of South Bank
killing
A VICIOUS ‘happy slapping’ gang targeted and filmed
one victim during a night of horror which claimed the life of former
Soho pub barman David Morley, a jury heard yesterday (Thursday).
Boredom led the gang of five men and a schoolgirl to get a thrill
by launching ambushes in which eight men were injured within an
hour, said prosecutor Richard Horwell at the Old Bailey.
One of the five incidents was recorded on camera, he told the court.
“This is a case which is depressing as it is alarming. The
lives of the six defendants held such little interest that they
set on a plan to use violence for its own sake,” the prosecutor
added.
He said their “indiscriminate violence for their own pleasure”
was at times accompanied by robbery.
“Weapons were not carried. Weapons are hardly necessary when
you have such an advantage in numbers,” said Mr Horwell.
Victims were punched, kicked and stamped on and on one occasion
a beer bottle was used, the court heard.
Some men escaped with minor injuries but the second person to be
targeted, 37-year-old Mr Morley, who survived the April 1999 nail
bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, suffered
“terrible violence” and died in hospital from multiple
injuries.
The gang struck between 2.30am and 3.30am on Saturday October 30
last year on the South Bank at Waterloo, close to Hungerford Bridge.
Mr Morley, from Chiswick, known as Cinders by friends, was on a
park bench in Jubilee Gardens when the gang pounced. Following his
death thousands of mourners turned out at St Anne’s Gardens,
in Wardour Street, Soho, for a vigil.
The six accused, from south London, deny murder, conspiracy to cause
grievous bodily harm with intent and conspiracy to rob between October
28 and 31 last year.
They are: market trader Barry Lee, 20, from Kennington, Darren Case,
18, Reece Sargeant, 21, two 17-year-old youths and a 15-year-old
girl who cannot be identified. The jury was shown CCTV footage of
the accused. Lee and the blonde schoolgirl were seen with hooded
tops, and the girl filming the final attack on a mobile phone. Mr
Horwell said Mr Morley’s friend said the schoolgirl was well-built
and joining in the violence, “kicking Mr Morley’s head
like it was a football”.
She tried to blame others and distance herself from the five incidents.
But when she filmed the final attack “it shows much about her
attitude to violence,” said the prosecutor.
The trial continues. |
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Give power to the people
POST-war, early 1950s Britain was still experiencing food rationing
and was a disillusioning place for English gourmands. The war had
destroyed the restaurant trade and, with few exceptions, post-war
eateries made the worst of a bad situation.
FULL STORY
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