Teenager jailed for murdering army cadet
Joseph Lappin was stabbed through the heart in October 2008
Also In The News
|
By Adam Leveridge
Michael Schumacher felt as though he was back in 1991 at the beginning of his formula one career, after completing his first day of testing for Mercedes GP. |  |
Tuesday, 02, Feb 2010 02:20
By Richard James.
A teenage boy has been jailed for a minimum of 17 years over the fatal stabbing of an army cadet in Merseyside.
James Moore, 17, from Vauxhall, was one of a gang of ten youths who attacked Joseph Lappin and his friends outside a Liverpool youth club in October 2008.
Moore had previously pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced at Liverpool crown court on Tuesday.
The nine other gang members also admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
Joseph, 16, from Old Swan, Liverpool, had been out visiting the Shrewsbury House Youth Club in the Everton area of the city when he was caught up in the altercation.
The court heard how the teenager and his friends Callum Naden and Greg Harold, then both 17, had been stood outside the club when they were confronted by the defendants who were out looking for revenge after an earlier fight with rivals.
The gang are said to have chased the youngsters around the building and later when cornered, Moore, then aged 16, attacked Joseph and Callum.
Joseph was stabbed through the heart, with his friend receiving knife wounds to the chest and leg. The latter survived but the army cadet died as a result of his injury.
The court also heard how Moore had been given an Asbo in 2007 for "terrorising" his neighbours but regularly breached it.
Handing down the jail term on Tuesday, Mr Justice Henriques said: "Joseph Lappin, Callum Naden and Greg Harold went to Shrewsbury House to listen to their friends practise and play in a band.
"These three were decent, law-abiding young men.
"It is truly shocking, even for those of us who attend court on a daily basis, that three such decent teenagers could be exposed to a pursuit, a chase and death."
The other nine gang members are due to be sentenced later.