Manslaughter Verdict For Teens Who Filmed Attack On Drunk

Two teenagers who targeted a young, vulnerable man with a drink problem, set him on fire and then dumped him in a river to drown were today found guilty of his manslaughter.

Thomas Orme, 15, and James Quantrill, 17, were found guilty today of setting light to 25-year-old Toby Atkin’s clothes, branding his face with a lighter, urinating on him and then dumping his unconscious body in the River Welland, in Spalding, Lincs, in the east of England.

The teenagers met Mr Atkin at the town’s bus station on May 17, Nottingham Crown Court heard and after stealing a bottle of vodka they led him to the river’s bank, where he drifted in and out of consciousness through drink and painkillers.

The teenagers, who actually filmed part of the attack on a mobile phone, then started kicking him and pushing sticks up his nose, before urinating on him and pushing him in the river.

In a statement today, his parents Wendy and Richard hit out at Quantrill and Orme. They said: “One day the families of these two will have them home again.

“One day they will walk through their front doors again. Toby will never be coming home again. We have lost him to these two, who haven’t even had the decency to look remorseful in court.”

They added: "To sit in court over the past few weeks and to hear of what our son went through, that he was urinated on and that his face and eyelashes were burned, has been torture for us.

“We will remember Toby for everything he was, good and bad. To us he was a loving and much-loved son and brother," they concluded.

(BMcC)