UK: 10 teenagers found guilty of murdering 18-year-old

A UK court has found ten teenagers guilty of murdering an 18-year-old boy while the latter was on his way back from a funfair in October 2021.

The group had chased victim, Jack Woodley, down an alleyway by a pub in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland before fatally stabbing him. They not only stabbed him but also kicked and punched him brutally.

The 10 male defendants had all been charged with murder, with an alternative count of manslaughter. Their identities have been kept hidden due to legal reasons, per a report in The Independent.

One of the teenagers had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter stating that he was the one who stabbed Woodley but denied that he intended to kill him, heard Newcastle Crown Court. The prosecutors said that the group was already intent on attacking someone at the Houghton Feast funfair in Tyne and Wear.

Woodley had gone to Houghton Feast with his girlfriend, and the ten defendants were also present at the venue. The jurors were informed that a minor scrap had broken out at the funfair when a girl kissed a boy whose ex-girlfriend was also present.

Woodley, who was at the scene, asked one of the strangers standing near him as to what had happened. Woodley's girlfriend later told police that a "big group (including the aforementioned stranger) of lads came over saying Jack had said he was going to punch one of them."

"This seems to be one of the trivial reasons for the group attack. The group had been looking for any reason or excuse to attack someone," prosecutor Mark McKone QC told the court.

He added that the defendants, aged between 14 and 17 at the time of the attack, did not even know Woodley. He told the court that they "not only attacked him but prevented him from escaping and other people from helping him."

The court heard that Woodley died the next day after the attack despite attempts to save his life. The teenagers have now been remanded in custody until their sentencing in August.