Two teenagers been convicted of killing a man after luring him to a beach where he was beaten to death with rocks while being called a ‘f***ing paedophile’.
A girl, 16, and a 15-year-old boy were convicted of the manslaughter of Alexander Cashford, 49, in Leysdown-on-Sea in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, on August 10 last year.
A 16-year-old male had previously pleaded guilty to a secondary charge of manslaughter.
They had been on trial at Woolwich Crown Court accused of murdering Mr Cashford but all three teenagers – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were acquitted of murder on Monday.
Mr Cashford met his killers at the Playtime Arcade on the seaside resort’s promenade where he first approached the girl and gave her his number on a business card.
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But the older boy saved it into his phone, under the name ‘Pedo’, and swapped dozens of messages with him over the following two days pretending to be a girl named ‘Sienna’.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were shown some of them.
The first, sent from the boy’s phone to Mr Cashford, read: ‘Hi it’s the girl from the arcade but to let you know I am 16 if u care about that kind of thing.’
He replied: ‘Whats’ your name? You’re rely pretty.’
Mr Cashford claimed to be 30, asked her if she liked champagne and said he wanted to kiss her, with ‘Sienna’ then suggesting they meet at her empty parents’ home and telling him to bring alcohol.
He travelled to meet the 16-year-old female defendant at around 7pm on August 10 at the seafront.
Just over an hour later he was dead.
Footage of the boys chasing Mr Cashford was played to the court.
The girl, who is filming, can be heard shouting ‘f***ing paedophile, I’m f***ing 16, get him’.
One witness saw the 16-year-old boy throwing rocks towards Mr Cashford, describing the first throw as ‘like a lob’, ‘frantic’ and with ‘a lot of power around it’.
Another witness shouted at the youths ‘What the f*** are you doing?’ after seeing a large rock being ‘bounced’ off Mr Cashford’s head.
Jurors heard the 16-year-old boy shouted back that ‘he’s a f**king paedophile’ and the 16-year-old girl also said ‘he’s a f**king paedo’.
One of the witnesses described the rocks as being ‘around the size of a cereal bowl, both were jagged’.
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.
It was not disputed that the assault and chase led to his death.
However, Mr Cashford had underlying cardiac issues following a heart attack in 2017 that may have exacerbated the effects of the attack, the court heard.
One pathologist did not exclude the possibility that his death could have been caused by an increase in adrenaline as a result of the chase.
Prosecutor Kate Blumgart KC told jurors: ‘These three defendants did happen by chance to meet Mr Cashford. What happened thereafter however was not by chance.
‘They were so outraged by his interest in “Sienna” that they deliberately planned to meet him and to attack him.
‘This was a joint attack with each of them playing a vital part.’
She said the two boys followed Mr Cashford and the girl ‘for a considerable distance – 850 metres’ during which time the older one ‘armed himself with a bottle that he subsequently used’.
‘He was later seen by witnesses throwing large rocks at Mr Cashford’s already seemingly lifeless body and head,’ she added.
‘This at the tail end of a vicious onslaught.’
The girl’s ‘unwavering enthusiasm for the venture can be heard in her shrieks in the video’, Ms Blumgart said, which the trio ‘undoubtedly planned to be evidence of their own successful hunt’.
The three teenagers will be sentenced later.
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