Teenage killers named after court plea fails ruling

Three juveniles convicted of murdering a student by throwing him off a bridge into the river Thames were publicly named for the first time yesterday after the High Court rejected their plea for anonymity.

Three juveniles convicted of murdering a student by throwing him off a bridge into the river Thames were publicly named for the first time yesterday after the High Court rejected their plea for anonymity.

Alan West, now aged 17, Shaun Copeland, 15, and his girlfriend Toni Blankson, 17 - together with three adults - were given life sentences on 19 May for murdering Timothy Baxter, 24, and attempting to murder his friend Gabriel Cornish, 25, in what the trial judge described as "an act of heartless, gratuitous violence". The judge said they should be named, but they were allowed to remain anonymous pending yesterday's High Court challenge. The decision is expected to result in more young offenders tried in adult courts being named in future cases.

The murder happened in June last year. After beating their victims unconscious, the six killers threw both men into the water from Hungerford Bridge in central London. As they lifted their victims over the parapet Blankson screamed: "Do it, do it", the court was told.Mr Cornish survived but Mr Baxter drowned.

Surveillance cameras at Waterloo station caught Copeland, just 14 at the time, and his girlfriend Blankson, then 16, kissing minutes after Mr Baxter, had been left to drown.

The three adults - John Riches, 22, Cameron Cyrus, 18, and Sonni Reid, 20 - were sentenced to life imprisonment and the juveniles were ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.

The three teenagers were originally protected from being identified by the Children and Young Persons Act, but Judge Ann Goddard ruled it was in the public interest that their identities be known.

The judge said the juveniles should be identified, not as an additional punishment, but because it was important that the public should know as much as possible about the case.

Peter Clarke QC, appearing for West at the High Court in London yesterday, argued that "naming and shaming" was not in the public interest and was "indecent" and an improper use of deterrence, which would result in the families of notorious young criminals being hounded and suffering. But Lord Justice Rose, sitting with Mrs Justice Rafferty, said of Judge Goddard's decision: "To my mind it is quite impossible to say she exercised her discretion in a flawed or inappropriate way."

Mr Clarke referred to the McKerry case heard earlier this year in which the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, said a juvenile's right to anonymity should not be lifted as an additional punishment and there was "no place for naming and shaming".

But Lord Justice Rose stressed that the Hungerford Bridge killers had been triedin an adult court with adult co-accused. The McKerry case referred to a decision made in the youth court. In the adult courts "good reason" had to be shown for anonymity orders, Lord Justice Rose said, whereas in the youth court the presumption was against the naming of juveniles.