Boys locked up for 'wicked' murder

Published: Thursday, 18 December 2008, 5:51PM

Two schoolboys have been detained for at least 12 years for the "wicked, brutal and cowardly" murder of a stranger in a graveyard.

Alex Farrelly and Benjamin Vine kicked William Wickham to death outside a church after drinking 20 bottles of Stella Artois lager between them.

Farrelly, then aged 15, started the attack by hitting the 44-year-old with a bottle, knocking him to the ground outside the Holy Trinity Church in Gosport, Hants, on February 25, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The pair then kicked him as if they were "playing football" with his head with Vine, then aged 16, stamping on his head with such force that the print from his trainers was imprinted in his face.

The pair had been drinking with Mr Wickham, an alcoholic father-of-one, outside the church for some time before they launched the unprovoked attack, the court heard.

The judge, Mr Justice Butterfield, detained the pair and said they would not be eligible for parole for at least 12 years.

Sentencing the teenagers, he said: "This was a wicked, brutal, cowardly and senseless killing.

"Your victim, sadly an alcoholic, slight in built and very affected by drink, posed no threat to you two lads. I reject as incredible that you were in fear of an attack by him.

"You were both drunk, you were both aggressive, you both attacked him because he annoyed you or you intended to rob him or as a drunken sport.

"This was a ferocious attack, you beat him to death."

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