Four youths imprisoned for fatal attack outside tube station

Four young men who violently attacked an antiques dealer "for fun", injuring him so seriously that he later died, were ordered to serve prison sentences yesterday.

The victim, Thomas Scott, 34, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was visiting London to celebrate his half-brother's birthday in October last year when the four set upon him outside Kentish Town station. He was there because he had taken the wrong tube train.

Mohamed Ahmed, 20, from Kentish Town, north London, was sent to a young offenders' institution for two years for violent disorder. Two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were given 18-month detentions and training orders.

All of them were cleared of murder and manslaughter by an Old Bailey jury in July. Yesterday, Judge Martin Stephens, sentencing the four at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London, said: "Each of you decided to take part in gratuitous violence, it seems to me, for fun - punching, kicking, throwing a large crate at someone and causing fear and mayhem on a busy street at night. Such conduct ... cannot be tolerated. It seriously affects the quality of life for the whole community."