Teenagers jailed after
shop attack
TWO teenagers who punched and kicked a punter to death after he refused to stop smoking in an east London betting shop have been jailed for two years.
Andrew Angus and Marcel Anderson, both 18, challenged 60-year-old Leslie Bones when he lit up at the Coral shop in Station Parade, Barking.
CCTV cameras caught Anderson spitting on the partially deaf victim and kicking him in the ribs while Angus punched him to the jaw.
Bones fractured his skull in falling to the floor and suffered a massive brain haemorrhage. He underwent emergency surgery, but died the following day.
His wife, Sylvia, was diagnosed with terminal cancer two months later and died before seeing justice done for her husband.
Angus, from Barking, and Anderson, from Dagenham, both admitted manslaughter and claimed they only hit Bones because he racially abused them when they asked him to stop smoking.
But Judge Richard Hawkins QC told them: "Though there was that element of provocation, such language cannot justify an attack upon him.
"This is a case of unintended death resulting from unlawful violence, a joint attack for which you were both responsible."
In a moving victim impact statement, Sandra Bones told the Old Bailey she believed her brother's death had been the trigger that led to his wife passing away three months later.
"From that fateful day Sylvia was a broken woman," she said. "We believe it was the shocking attack on Leslie that laid waste to her life. I believe the day they killed Leslie, they also killed his wife."
The court heard that Bones, of Ilford, east London, went to the betting shop on April 19 this year to place a greyhound bet.
A witness told police that around 3.20pm one of a group of black youths at a gambling machine spotted Bones smoking a cigarette.
"Angus approached him and told him he was not allowed to smoke in the bookmakers", said prosecutor Jacob Hallam.
"Leslie Bones did not want to leave and an argument ensued. He swore at Angus and Angus responded by spitting in Leslie Bones' face. Anderson also became involved in the argument."
Mr Hallam said Bones then barged Anderson and that a witness heard him being racially abusive before attempting to grab Anderson.
"It was at that point that the blows were struck. Anderson punched him in the jaw, Angus kicked him in the body and Mr Bones fell to the floor of the bookmakers, striking his head and fracturing his skull," he added.
Anderson was later heard saying that Bones had been racially abusive and he was not having that so he "twanged" him.
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