Six members of a bicycle gang who murdered innocent schoolboy Shaquille Smith in a park have been jailed for life.

They were given minimum terms of between 15 and 18 years at the Old Bailey after the judge labelled them "arrogant cowards".

The gang, members of the London Fields Boys, from Hackney, east London, stabbed the 14-year-old to death as he talked on a park bench about going on holiday to Jamaica.

The gang members, who included two brothers, were sentenced one by one to avoid violence in the dock.

George Amponsah, 19, Godiowe Dufeal, 20, Amisi Khama, 18, Freddie Amponsah, 17, Kadean Dias, 18, and Leon Atwell, 17, all from Hackney, were found guilty of murder last month. George Amponsah and Dufeal were given 18 years' custody. The others were given 15-year minimum terms.

Dufeal had only been released on licence a week before Shaquille was attacked in August last year, after serving part of a four-year sentence for having a gun. Khama had been a semi-professional footballer for Bishop Stortford club, and Dias was described as an "excellent pupil".

But they were likened to a "wild pack of dogs" as they abandoned their bikes and climbed over a fence into the park in St Thomas's Place.

Judge David Paget said they had attacked Shaquille who had done nothing to provoke them. "He was truly innocent and what is more, he was yards from his own front door," said the judge.

They had ridden arrogantly through red lights and on pavements in a 10-strong relay. After the boy was stabbed, they rode off "like cowards" to London Fields, he said.

Judge Paget added: "The most shocking aspect is that it was completely unprovoked and completely unnecessary. It was truly mindless violence resulting in the death of a totally innocent 14-year-old boy sitting yards from his front door."

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