Jury retire in trial of teenagers accused of murdering man at seaside resort
A girl, 16, and two boys aged 15 and 16 are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court for the murder of Alexander Cashford, 49, on August 10 last year.
The jury has started deliberating in the trial of three teenagers accused of murdering a man at a seaside resort after he arranged to meet up with a 16-year-old girl.
The girl and two boys aged 15 and 16 are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court for the murder of Alexander Cashford, 49, in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent on August 10 last year.
Prosecutors say Mr Cashford was chased and hit with rocks and a bottle and was found lying face down in mud.
Jurors were previously told that he had given the girl his number on August 8, after meeting her 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 exchanged messages with Mr Cashford and arranged to meet him by the sea wall.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously pleaded guilty to a secondary charge of manslaughter.
The girl and the 15-year-old boy deny manslaughter and all three defendants deny murder.
The older male defendant claimed he attacked Mr Cashford because he felt police “wouldn’t have done anything” if they had reported him for trying to meet up with the girl.
Mobile phone footage showed the boy striking Mr Cashford on the head with a bottle.
Giving evidence, he accepted that he wanted to use it to hurt Mr Cashford but said he did not believe it would cause “serious injury”.
The footage then showed him and his male co-defendant running after the fleeing Mr Cashford.
Meanwhile, the girl could be heard screaming: “F****** paedophile. I’m f****** 16. You f****** paedophile.”
The alleged victim fell and the older male defendant threw a rock at him, which one eyewitness described as “the size of a cereal bowl”, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said in her summing up on Wednesday.
Witnesses saw him kick Mr Cashford in the side of his body but its power was disputed.
In his evidence, the boy said he delivered the blow with “medium force”.
Asked why he used that level of strength, he said: “I wasn’t that motivated to, like, kick him full force.”
He said his feelings of anger had subsided during the chase.
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, jurors were told previously.
The older boy said the trio’s plot developed into him and his male co-defendant giving Mr Cashford “a slap” or to “just meet up with him and hit him a few times”, said Danny Robinson KC, defending the girl.
The younger boy and the girl have said they were not aware of such a plan, jurors heard.
Mr Robinson put to the jury that even if the plan was to “hit him a few times”, could they be sure that their aim was “to kill Mr Cashford or cause him real harm?”
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.
