A 15-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl have been found guilty of killing an 80-year-old man who was filmed being punched and kicked during a fatal attack at a park.

Leicester Crown Court heard the boy racially abused Bhim Kohli, and slapped him in the face with a slider shoe while he was on his knees during the “intense attack”, while the girl encouraged the violence and filmed it on her phone while laughing.

Mr Kohli died the day after the attack, which occurred yards from his home while he was walking his dog Rocky in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, on 1 September.

The boy was charged with murder and manslaughter, but was acquitted of the more serious charge on Tuesday.

Neither defendant can be named because of their ages.

The boy was remanded in custody, while the girl was released on conditional bail.

They will be sentenced on 19 and 20 May.

When the verdicts were read out, the boy leaned forward in the dock while the girl cried, and hugged her mother when she was released.

Addressing the girl, Mr Justice Turner said: “I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that the fact that bail is being granted should not be taken as any indication as to the sentence when the time comes.”

The judge, who will consider a media application to lift reporting restrictions on 19 May, thanked the jury – which deliberated for more than six hours – for their “obvious hard work”.

After the hearing, Mr Kohli’s daughter Susan Kohli said her dad was “brutally taken away”.

“He was a devoted life partner to my mum for 55 years,” she said.

“He was a loving dad, grandad, brother and uncle, a retired businessman and a close friend to many including people who lived in our local community.

“He was an amazing man who loved life. He never took himself seriously. He was good fun to be around and very chatty.

“Despite his age and how frail he looked, he was healthy and very active. He had three allotment plots where he grew fruit and vegetables.”

Both defendants were among a group of children who encountered Mr Kohli in the park on the day he was fatally injured, the trial, which lasted more than five weeks, heard.

Opening the prosecution case, Harpreet Sandhu KC said: “[Bhim Kohli] left his home on Bramble Way. Having left his home, he walked a few yards to the entrance of Franklin Park, where he was going to take his dog for a walk.

“However, Mr Kohli would not get the opportunity to walk his dog for long and never would he return home. That is because in Franklin Park, Mr Kohli had the misfortune to encounter these two defendants.”

Mr Sandhu told the court the boy and girl had spent the afternoon together at Braunstone Park before going to the boy’s home, where he changed his clothes and wore black sliders – a loose-fitting type of shoe similar in appearance to flip-flops – which the barrister said were used in the attack.

He said CCTV footage showed Mr Kohli walked with his dog to Franklin Park at about 18:18 BST, followed by the two defendants and three other children a few minutes later.

The footage of the assault was shown to the jury.

Jurors heard Mr Kohli was discovered by two of his children “on the ground and in obvious pain”.

Mr Kohli, the court heard, had told his daughter he had been punched in the face, kicked, and racially abused.

His cause of death was given as a neck injury causing spinal cord damage, and he had a number of other injuries including fractured ribs.

The boy told a friend he would go “on the run” to Hinckley, in Leicestershire, the day after the attack but was arrested by police minutes later while hiding in a bush, the court heard.

In a letter written by the boy, after he had been charged, to a professional who was working with him, he said: “I am so nervous, well scared and worried. I accept I did it and I’m doing time, I’m just scared about how long I have to do.”

He also said in the letter that his girlfriend had broken up with him and he had been “struggling with that”, so he “needed anger etc releasing”.

When the professional told the boy that the contents of his letter would need to be disclosed, the boy said “that’s my manslaughter plea gone”, Mr Sandhu told the jury.

BBC News

Jonathan Ball told the court that he ‘holds views which fundamentally conflict with the jury system’

A man has refused to attend court for jury service because he is a “right-wing anarchist”. Jonathan Ball, from Southport, was summonsed to serve as a juror at Liverpool Crown Court, but could now face prison due to his “conscientious objection”.

He was told to appear before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC today, Monday, in order to “show cause”, or to demonstrate reasons why he should not be found in contempt of court for his failure to show up for his two scheduled dates of service in December last year and earlier this month. However, he again did not attend this morning.

The city’s top judge stated that Ball had initially been sent his summons to serve in October last year but responded with a letter “indicating that he was not prepared to do jury service”. In it, he said: “There is no way I’m going to do jury service.

“As a right-wing anarchist, I hold views which fundamentally conflict with the jury system. I believe my participation would not only be a disserve to the court, but it would also compromise the integrity of the process. Therefore, I respectfully request that my beliefs be taken into consideration.”

But Judge Menary said of this: “This potential juror set out in pretty comprehensive terms his unwillingness to attend. There is no legal basis to exclude a juror on the basis of their philosophical beliefs.

“Jury service is a fundamental and important civic duty requiring all citizens who are summonsed to attend, unless there is a good and sufficient reason for a juror not serving.

“This does not include any conscientious objection or ideological opposition to jury service. That is simply not a good or sufficient reason.

“I am perfectly satisfied by his failure to attend, in the absence of any other explanation than the one outlined by the juror, that there is no good or sufficient reason for him not to attend. Accordingly, I find that he is in contempt of court.”

Ball, who was said to be “not working or in receipt of income”, was fined the maximum £1,000 as a result, a sum he must pay within the next 56 days or otherwise face 14 days in prison in default. Judge Menary however allowed him 56 days to make further submissions to the court.

Liverpool Echo

Sam Small admitted the entirely unprovoked racially motivated attack

A man is set to be sentenced next month by a judge after he admitted an entirely unprovoked racially motivated assault on a bus, where he kicked his victim’s head so hard it smashed through a window.

Police were alerted to the incident which took place on a double-decker bus on Mannamead Road at around 9.20pm on Monday, March 24.

Sam Small, aged 31, was arrested the following day and taken to Charles Cross police station before he was interviewed and later charged with racially aggravated actual bodily harm, one count of actual bodily harm and two counts of criminal damage.

Appearing from custody Plymouth Magistrates’ Court today Small, who gave his address as Union Street, pleaded guilty to all four offences.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Hannah Cotton said the victim was waiting at the bus stop at 9.10pm to go to work at Derriford Hospital.

He saw Small in the street “screaming and making noises”. The double-decker bus arrived and he boarded it, heading upstairs to the top deck but was soon joined by Small who sat behind him.

The victim, whom the court said was a man of Asian descent, later told police he heard Small say something to the effect of “getting to the hospital mate” before he then placed his earpods into his ears and began listening to music.

Ms Cotton said CCTV footage from the bus then showed Small getting into the man’s face and said “take off your phone”. The victim removed his earpods and Small screamed at the man “take off your phone”.

The court heard that the CCTV then showed Small holding onto the railings of bus and used it as leverage to lift himself up and kick the victim in the head which caused the victims face to slam against the bus window. The force was so strong that the victim’s glasses broke and they went flying out of the smashed window along with one of his earpods. Another passenger began to scream and ran downstairs and the bus came to a sudden stop.

The victim tried to protect himself by putting his arms up but Small continued his assault, throwing a series of punches at the man. Small then left the bus and the victim was taken to Derriford Hospital for treatment. A CT scan revealed a nasal septum deviation and several cuts and bruises to his face.

In a victim impact statement the man said he was “really shocked” by the attack, adding that he’d been in the country for three years and had “never experienced such rude and arrogant behaviour towards me”. He said it was the usual time he went to work and he was now worried of encountering Small again.

He added that due to his head injury he had been signed off work for a week which he could ill afford and his partner had had to take time off her work to care for him.

Ms Cotton said witnesses had told police Small shouted “leave off our girls” and “he’s taken our girls”. When Small was later arrested by police he was caught on bodyworn video saying “I’ll go guilty, I don’t give a f***. It’s all on CCTV anyway. The rapists and the nonces out there, most of them are p***s, most of them is them foreigners.”

Ms Cotton also noted that during a previous arrest for another offence, Small was caught on police bodyworn video shouting racist comments including “p***s [in] our country, taking our jobs.”

Ms Cotton noted that Small had an “extensive” record of offences to his name including a conviction for grievous bodily harm in 2011 and actual bodily harm in 2020.

In mitigation, Small’s solicitor Michael Crumley said Small had “substantial” mental health problems exacerbated by his learning disability. He said Small’s family had told him that Small had previously been “begging to have some help for his mental health difficulties” and was in a queue waiting to be assessed.

He said Small was “not receiving the help and support he needs at this time”. He admitted it was an “unpleasant offence by anyone’s reckoning” but to explain the background to the offence one would have to “peel back the layers” when Small was eventually sentenced.

The chair of the bench of magistrates said the matter was so serious that their powers of sentence were not sufficient and remanded Small into custody until April 24 at Plymouth Crown Court. They ordered a full pre-sentence report be undertaken by the Probation Service before that date.

Plymouth Herald

Damion Bennett has been jailed after uploading the ‘threatening, abusive and insulting’ material

A Stockport man who posted vile videos of Nazi salutes and ridiculed the Holocaust online has been jailed.

Damion Bennett, 30, was arrested at his Offerton home after uploading the ‘threatening, abusive and insulting’ material to ‘free speech’ forum GAB.

He was jailed for 22 months after pleading guilty to three offences of distributing, showing or playing a recording intending to stir up racial hatred at a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court on Wednesday (March 27).

Judge Tina Landale also ordered that two mobile phones and a computer tower containing offending material be destroyed.

Bennett, of Hall Street, Offerton, posted three videos showing offensive content including Nazi salutes in January and February 2023 on the online platform GAB, an alternative mainstream social media platform.

Detective Supt Ben Cottam, senior investigating officer for CTPNW, said: “GAB was founded in 2016 and launched publicly in 2017 and claims to promote free speech and individual liberty; however researchers and journalists have found that antisemitism is prominent in the site’s content.

“Bennett created a GAB account with the username @Damo94 in November 2022, where he began posting images, memes and videos which were assessed to be extremist material synonymous with a far-right mindset.

“The content of Bennett’s account was extremely threatening, abusive and insulting, and was intended to stir up racial hatred.

“During the search of his home address officers and online accounts officers found a number of leaflets supportive of a mindset promoting conspiracy theories, antisemitism, racism and extreme right-wing beliefs.

“Distribution of material inciting racial hatred, particularly on the internet and in public, has far-reaching consequences and implications, and anyone posting will be dealt with.”

Manchester Evening News

A man who posted support online for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis has been handed a suspended sentence.

Harris Girling, 57, posted more than 4,000 times, with the overall theme espousing Nazi ideology and hatred of Jews between August 2021 and his arrest in February 2023, Joe Allman, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court.

Girling, of Fulham Street in Nelson, Lancashire, admitted eight counts of stirring up hatred online, mostly of racial hatred but also based on sexual orientation.

His online posts included hatred against Muslims, black people, Jews and homosexuals.

When police seized his devices they included images of Hitler.

Girling, described as intelligent, well read and “politically aware”, with no previous convictions, used the US-based social media platform Gab, using a public profile so anyone could see his hateful messages.

Mr Allman told the court Girling’s posts received very few responses and this could not be regarded as widespread dissemination of hate speech.

‘Predilection’

Brendan O’Leary, mitigating, said the father-of-one, whose wife lives in Romania, had worked as a psychiatric nurse and had in the past been a supporter of left-wing, progressive politics.

Mr O’Leary continued: “What appears to have happened is in 2020 and thereafter, in deteriorating health, significant medication, his predilection towards isolation compounded by lockdown, ill health led him down a path that’s quite frankly hard to explain.

“He appears to be someone in the midst of very difficult personal circumstances.

“He’s sought an avenue to express his frustration, wholly inappropriately.”

Probation officers deemed Girling to be a low risk of re-offending, the court heard.

Passing sentence, Judge Robert Altham, Recorder of Preston, gave Girling 24 months in prison for each count, but suspended for 20 months, with 35 rehabilitation days and a 26-week curfew.

He said: “The decision to suspend has been a very finely balanced one.

“By expressing these views you encourage others they may do the same and even act out some of the violent hateful acts you espoused.”

Girling was also given a criminal behaviour order, restricting his internet usage.

BBC News

The trial was due to take place three years ago but was adjourned after Mrs Barton sent a letter saying her injuries were caused accidentally.

Former footballer Joey Barton has avoided jail for pushing his wife over and kicking her in the head.

The incident happened at their home in southwest London in June 2021.

Barton, 42, was convicted of assault and given a 12-week sentence, suspended for two years – meaning he won’t go to prison unless he commits another offence.

Georgia Barton was left with a lump on her forehead and a bleeding nose after the attack in Kew.

The court heard the Bartons had been drinking with two other couples as their children slept upstairs, before an argument started over a family matter.

Mrs Barton called 999 and said her husband had hit her, but later sent a letter retracting the statement.

Barton was arrested in the his bedroom – still drunk – on the night of the attack, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.

His wife, 38, was taken to a police station but gave a “no comment” interview.

On Tuesday, magistrate Paul Goldspring described the ex-Man City and QPR player’s story as “vague” and convicted him of assault after a two-day trial.

Prosecutors said Mrs Barton’s call to police was “compelling evidence” and wasn’t the result of alcohol as she and her husband claimed.

Barton previously admitted they had argued but denied anything “physical” occurred.

Defence lawyer Simon Csoka told the court: “There are a number of circumstances where the injury [lump] on the head] may have been sustained accidentally.”

The trial was due to take place in 2022 but was adjourned after Mrs Barton sent a letter saying her injuries were caused accidentally when a friend tried to separate the pair.

The couple are still together.

The magistrate acknowledged Barton had “a record of violence” but said it was “not necessary to impose an immediate custodial sentence”.

Barton was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge and court costs totalling £2,183.

Sky News