Life for trio over stamping murder

Curtis Delima, 19, Mark Elliott, 21, and Gerry Cusden, 16, were found guilty of murdering Mark Witherall, 47, last month following a nine-week trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

The trio turned on Mr Witherall on January 27 last year after he stopped them trying to burgle his home in Whitstable, Kent, in an attack that Judge Timothy Pontius described as "like a pack of hyenas".

Delima was jailed for a minimum of 20 years, Elliott 23 years and Cusden 16 years.

Mr Witherall suffered massive internal bleeding in the attack, and died of his injuries in hospital on March 7 after spending more than five weeks on a life-support machine.

During the trial the court heard how he chased the youths out of his house after he disturbed them trying to burgle it, and how they turned on him, attacking him outside until he lay unconscious on the pavement, before going back in to ransack the property.

As he sentenced the trio, Judge Pontius told them: "The three of you intended to hurt Mark Witherall very badly, as together you kicked and stamped on him as he lay utterly defenceless on the ground.

"The fatal injuries were by repeated blows with feet, not heavily shod but wearing trainers, a fact which underlines the savagery and force behind those kicks, leading to massive internal bleeding."

The incident was recorded by a CCTV camera and played to the jury a number of times during the trial.

The attackers' voices could clearly be heard as they kicked and stamped on Mr Witherall, and then as they discussed burgling his home as he lay dying on the pavement outside. The jury also heard Mr Witherall groaning.