Two teens convicted of killing man at beach

Two teenagers have been convicted of killing a man they believed to be a paedophile by luring him to a beach, where another teenager proceeded to throw rocks at him.

A girl, 16, and a 15-year-old boy were convicted of the manslaughter of Alexander Cashford, 49, in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent on August 10 last year, News.Az reports, citin foreign media.

A 16-year-old boy previously pleaded guilty to a secondary charge of manslaughter.

They had been on trial at Woolwich Crown Court accused of murdering Mr Cashford, but all three teenagers – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were unanimously acquitted of murder on Monday.

The jury of six men and six women found the 16-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy guilty of the secondary charge of manslaughter.

Jurors were previously told Mr Cashford had given the girl his number on August 8, after meeting her by chance at an amusement arcade, and that he also handed her a business card with a name on that was not his.

Using the alias Sienna, the three teenagers exchanged messages with Mr Cashford and arranged to meet him by the sea wall.

The 16-year-old boy had saved Mr Cashford’s number in his own phone as “pedo” and around 75 messages were sent between them, the trial heard.

The man, who claimed to be 30, asked the girl if she liked champagne and said he wanted to kiss her, with “Sienna” then suggesting they meet at her parents’ empty home and telling him to bring alcohol.

During his evidence, the older boy was asked if, in the immediate aftermath – before they were arrested or discovered Mr Cashford had died – he had thought he had “done the right thing” by attacking him.

The defendant replied: “Yeah, kind of, yeah.”

Asked why, he said: “Because I feel like the police wouldn’t have done anything.”

Danny Robinson KC, defending the girl, told the trial that texting Mr Cashford started as a “big laugh”, and may have turned “into a desire to expose him as someone who should be named and shamed”.

However, the attack was not the product of an “organised plan to kill or cause anyone really serious harm, it was a childish escapade that got out of hand very quickly with tragic consequences”, he said.

The girl and the younger male defendant said there was never a plan to hit Mr Cashford, the court heard.

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Cashford had injuries to his face and head, bruises on his limbs and body, and a number of fractured ribs that had punctured his lung.

Mr Cashford met the 16-year-old female defendant at around 7pm on August 10 at the seafront in Leysdown-on-Sea, and just over an hour later he was dead, the court was told.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli