LONDON, Oct 19: Five boys, some as young as 12, were given custodial sentences on Friday for stoning to death a pensioner as he played cricket with his son. The schoolboys, one of whom was just 10 at the time, had attacked 67-year-old Ernest Norton at Erith Leisure Centre in Kent in February 2006.

The Old Bailey heard that the five belonged to a local gang called ‘The New Estate’ and were part of a larger group of up to 20 who began abusing Norton and his 18-year-old son James.

Norton was verbally abused, spat at and then pelted with a hail of stones and pieces of wood. He died of a heart attack after being struck twice on the head and face with stones, one rock the size of half a brick shattered his cheekbone. He died in front of his son.

Judge Warwick McKinnon described it as “a vicious, unprovoked attack”.

“Your behaviour was utterly disgraceful and criminally irresponsible. No sentence I can pass can restore the human life so needlessly taken by this mindless display of violence,” he told them.

All the boys, who were found guilty of manslaughter in August, were given two years detention. They are now appealing against their conviction.

The court heard that the incident happened after a posting was put up on an Internet site that there was going to be a fight involving four local gangs in Erith Park in Kent.

Detective Chief Inspector Clive Heys said the case was a tragedy for Norton’s family and for the boys themselves.

“They will have a stain on their characters for the rest of their life,” he said, hoping it might deter youngsters from anti-social behaviour in the future.—Reuters