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| ‘IT SHOULD BE MURDER’ |
Shock as Sinders’ killers are
guilty of manslaughter
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Victim David Morley
Darren Case
Reece Sargeant
A vigil held for Sinders in November 2004
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FRIENDS of the former Soho pub manager David Morley – kicked
to death by a gang of ‘happy slapping’ thugs – have
expressed their shock that an Old Bailey jury has failed to find
anyone guilty of murder.
In bars and shops in the West End, where Mr Morley – known
as Sinders – was well-known for his kindness and generosity,
friends yesterday (Thursday) were angry at Wednesday’s manslaughter
verdicts following a six week trial.
Mr Morley died from 44 separate injuries after his head was booted
“like a football” by the youngest member of the gang,
a 14-year-old girl.
Reece Sargeant, 21, a Covent Garden shop worker, Darren Case, 18,
a six-foot three-inch tall 17-year-old youth and the heavily built,
brown- haired girl, now 15, and all from Kennington, were found
guilty of manslaughter and plotting grievous bodily harm on victims
and will be sentenced for the killing on January 23.
The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barket, remanded them
in custody and called for pre-sentence probation reports. Market
trader Barry Lee, 20, and a 17-year-old who cannot be identified,
both from Kennington, who admitted being present during the gang’s
orgy of violence, were acquitted and discharged.
Last night (Thursday) friends and acquaintances were united in their
outrage.
Robert Buesing, 35, from south London, described how a close friend
of Mr Morley had coped during the case.
He said: “She has been following the court case. She has been
trying to support his parents and dealing with all the agony. It
should have been murder instead of manslaughter.” Tim Hayter,
24 and a regular at the Admiral Duncan, where Mr Morley worked as
a bar manager at the time of the pub bombing in 1999, said: “I
was quite outraged by it (the verdict).
“The charge should have been murder. Considering their age,
they should go to prison but not really for a long sentence –
for a medium sentence.
“It definitely should not have been manslaughter.”
Jeremy Joseph, who operates the GAY venue and events, said: “In
my eyes because someone didn’t intend to kill someone I don’t
think they should get the lesser charge of manslaughter.
“David Morley is dead, he is not coming back, that is murder.
“The problem is that they did attack other people and that
is why they have got away with it.”
He added: “They mugged other people and they are comparing
David Morley with those muggings.
“It is as if they are making it out as a mugging.
“Whatever excuse they want to give, as far as I am concerned,
it is murder. The intention was to attack David Morley and he was
killed.”
Peter Tatchell, head of campaign group Outrage, also questioned
the verdict.
He said: “It is questionable whether justice has been done.
“David’s killing resulted from a premeditated attack.
“They must have known that their extreme violence was likely
to cause serious and potentially fatal injuries.”
Outside the court one observer commented that: “Obviously the
jurors concluded that punching and kicking a helpless man senseless
did not amount to an intent to cause GBH and warrant a murder conviction.”
The jury was in retirement for more than 26 hours over six days
after hearing evidence that Mr Morley and a friend, Alistair Whiteside,
30, were set upon on the South Bank after being asked the time late
one night last October.
The gang filmed the attack on a mobile phone and the prosecution
used excerpts from the 14-year-old’s diary which described
similar violent sprees earlier in the same month.
One passage read: “I had an all-nighter with Barry, Darren
and Reece. Them lot bang up some old homeless man which I think
is bad man, even though I was laughing.”
Mr Morley’s death provoked shock and anger throughout the Soho
community and in the week following the man’s death thousands
gathered for a vigil in St Anne’s Gardens, Wardour Street,
before marching down to the site of the attack.
Additional reporting: Joel Taylor and David St George |
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