Teens who bludgeoned homeless man to death with meat cleaver and fence post jailed for life

Two teenagers who beat a homeless man to death with a meat cleaver and a fence post because "it was funny" have been jailed for life.

Alex Macdonald and Charlie White, both 19, and Jimmy Buckley, 20, beat to death 21-year-old Razvan Sirbu on 6 May last year at the Loose Valley Conservation Area in Tovil, near Maidstone.

In a "senseless act of mindless brutality" Sirbu was beaten to death near the tent where he lived in the Kent beauty spot.

Sirbu suffered multiple injuries to his head and body after being subjected to a sustained and unprovoked assault with weapons including a meat cleaver in a late-night assault.

The three men left Sirbu for dead, and he was discovered at around 7am the next morning by dog walkers in an area of woodland, off Cave Hill.

Macdonald and White denied murder at Maidstone Crown Court but were found guilty after a trial while Buckley was deemed unfit to plead, although the jury found he was involved in murdering Sirbu.

The court was told how Sirbu was struck up to 20 times with the piece of wood by Macdonald while White hit him up to seven times with the meat cleaver.

The jury was also told that a friend heard Macdonald joking say to White that he repeatedly hit Sirbu "cos it was funny" while CCTV revealed Macdonald and Buckley appeared to re-enact some of the violence.

The CCTV footage, taken from a local skate park, showed White burning clothing believed to have been worn during the murder.

A post-mortem examination revealed Sirbu died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso and also suffered multiple skull fractures, facial bone fractures as well as several fractured ribs.

A neuropathologist said he believed Sirbu would only have survived for about 30 minutes after the attack, reported the MailOnline

Both Macdonald and White were sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years and 16 years respectively. Buckley will be sentenced at a later date.

The pair claimed that they had been in the area because they planned to steal a sit-on lawn mower with Macdonald claiming he acted in self-defence after hearing Sirbu shouting at him.

Judge Carey told the jury: "It was a shameful, senseless act of mindless brutality which ended in death and leaves in its wake a grieving mother and the community in and around Maidstone, who as right-minded and law-abiding people, will have a deep and abiding sense of horror and regret that such an event could have occurred in their town."