Erhahon killers given life sentences

Last Modified: 09 May 2008
Source: ITN

Three teenage gang members have been given life sentences for the murder of an innocent 14-year-old schoolboy.

Paul Benfield, 16, and Kevin Adu-Marcet, 15, were both given life detention sentences with a minimum term of 13 years for the murder of Paul Erhahon. The third boy convicted of murder, Jordan Conn, 15, was given life with a minimum term of 11 years.

Nathan Desnoes, 16, who was found guilty of manslaughter, was given an extended detention sentence of 12 years, which includes a custodial term of eight years.

A fifth defendant, Theo Diah, 19, was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of seven years. He had also been found guilty of manslaughter.

On Good Friday last year, Paul had strayed into the path of a group of thugs near his home in Leytonstone, east London. He was stabbed in the heart with a seven-inch blade by the youths who wanted to "earn their spurs", the Old Bailey in London heard.

The jury heard how Paul, who was also an aspiring DJ, cried out "you can't be shanking (stabbing) me" as he was attacked by the 17-strong gang. His 15-year-old friend was also stabbed and left for dead when he tried to save him.

Members of the group as young as 13 were urged on by others, who were themselves just a few years older, shouting: "Go on youngers." Many wore hoods and masks, and were armed with baseball bats, knives, swords and a bicycle chain.

The year before, Paul had been stabbed by bullies, and his parents had moved him to Kingsford Community School in Beckton, east London, hoping for a fresh start for him.

But instead they came out of their home on the evening of the murder to find his chest covered in blood as he cried out: "I'm dying, I'm dying."

Jonathan Turner QC, prosecuting, said: "Such gangs, mainly comprised of upper-teenagers or young men in their early 20s, often have younger acolytes who look up to them and earn their spurs by doing the bidding of their elders."

Paul's father, also called Paul, said: "People who have been nurtured to live outside the realms of a decent and law-abiding society murdered my son."

Rita, the boy's mother, said: "We've each been given a lifetime sentence of loss and sadness. He was just an innocent boy caught in the wrong place and time."

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