Family bulletinThe minimum life sentences for the UK’s youngest knife killers have been increased over the murder of Sean Sisahai.
The ruling by the Court of Appeal increased the minimum sentence for the two 13-year-old boys from eight and a half years to 10 years.
The children, known only as BGI and CMB, were 12 when they killed the 19-year-old on November 13 last year at Stowlawn Playing Fields in Wolverhampton.
Mr Sisahai was stabbed in the heart and lungs with a machete and died at the scene.
The Solicitor General had referred their sentences to the Court of Appeal under the Unjustified Sentencing System (ULS), which allows sentences to be reconsidered if government law officers consider them too short.
At a hearing on Thursday, government lawyers said the sentences should be toughened, noting it was a “particularly serious case.”
The ruling by three senior judges means they will spend nine years and 60 days behind bars for time already served.
Lord Justice William Davies, sitting with Justice Bennathan and Justice Nicholas Deane QC, said: “We have come, with some reluctance and sadness, to the conclusion that the minimum conditions imposed by Lady Justice Tibbles were unjustifiably lenient.”
The judge added that full written reasons for the decision would be provided later on Thursday.
The boys are believed to be the youngest defendants convicted of murder in the UK since 11-year-old Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were convicted of the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.
Family bulletinSisahai, who was born in Anguilla, was living in Birmingham at the time of his murder.
His skull was fractured during the attack and one of his wounds was 23 cm (9 inches) deep, almost passing through his body.
In a victim impact statement, read at the killers’ sentencing hearing, his family said they were haunted by thoughts of how frightened he was.
They described his murder as tragic, unexpected and senseless, and committed “for no reason at all”.
It was two boys He was convicted at Nottingham Crown Court in September.
Both blamed the other for inflicting four machete wounds, but were unanimously found guilty of murder.
The judge at their trial, Mrs Justice Tibbles, ruled that the defendants should be protected by anonymity orders, saying their welfare outweighed the wider public interest in open justice and unrestricted reporting.
In her remarks at the sentencing, she said Sichai had “everything to live for” and described his killing as “horrific and shocking”.
She described BGI as “extremely vulnerable” and said he admitted buying the murder weapon from a friend for £40 about a month before the attack.
She continued that he had been “groomed and exploited” by others and had “many negative childhood experiences.”
The second accused, CMB, had a supportive and loving relationship with his parents and was not previously known to police.
Explaining the reasons for the long minimum period, the judge said that mitigating factors include the fact that the attack was not intentional, and the age of the defendants.
However, in written submissions for Thursday’s hearing, the Solicitor General of the Court of Appeal said the sentences were “substantially too short.”
Paul Jarvis, who represents the prosecutor in court, said the judge had “allocated quite a lot” in mitigation.
Both boys attended the hearing via video link from separate facilities.
