Gang jailed for pensioner attack

Brian Kitching, 68, was walking through a rock garden at Southsea seafront in Portsmouth, Hampshire, when the gang pounced on him and punched and kicked him like a football.

Amie Bartholomew, then 18 and pregnant, started the attack when she shouted to Mr Kitching he was a "dirty paedophile" and punched him, Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire heard.

Melissa Healy, who was 16 at the time, Paul Dewar, then 25, and Lewis Hoare, then 18, all joined in the attack on Mr Kitching repeatedly punching and kicking his head, face and body.

He died months later in a nursing home as a direct result of the brain damage he suffered in the attack, the court heard.

Hoare, now 19 from Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to murder and will be sentenced at a later date.

But Dewar, now 27, from Taunton, Somerset, Bartholomew, now 20, and Healy, now 17, both from Portsmouth, all denied murdering Mr Kitching.

A jury of six men and six women took nine hours to find the trio guilty of murder and Mrs Justice Dobbs sentenced them each to life imprisonment.

Mrs Justice Dobbs said the pensioner was subject to "an unprovoked and brutal attack by a number of young people who had been drinking in the day and who were in a belligerent mood".

Dewar was told he will serve a minimum of 16 years, minus the 277 days already spent in custody, Bartholomew was told she would serve a minimum of 15 years and Healy was told she would serve a minimum of 10 years.