Teenagers get life for stabbing

The Old Bailey heard the attack was over £10

Two teenagers have been given the equivalent of life sentences for stabbing a 15-year-old boy to death in front of his school friends.

Abdul Maye was stabbed in the back outside his school in east London after finishing a mock GCSE exam in December last year.

The Old Bailey heard that his attackers, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old, were desperate not to "lose face" over £10 he allegedly owed them for some cannabis.

The pair were sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure and told they would not be considered for release for at least eight years.

Scuffles

The youths, now aged 16 and 15, had been found guilty of murder last month.

The court had heard that the defendants did not attend the school in Manor Park, but were frequently seen hanging around.

A series of scuffles had broken out in the two weeks before the killing between Abdul and the two teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

On the last occasion Abdul's friends helped chase the pair off.

'Lost face'

The feud reached its conclusion on 7 December when the two set out armed with large kitchen knives to obtain revenge.

Susan Edwards QC, prosecuting, had told the court: "They had very publicly lost face. They had been chased off and had got the worst of the confrontation.

"What happened next was the defendants' decision to return and mete out a very public revenge on Abdul for their humiliation."

After the stabbing, one witness saw the pair laughing as they ran from the scene.

Sentencing them Judge Paul Focke QC said: "It was a bold, planned attack."

He ordered that the 15-year-old, a Jamaican national, be deported on his release.

"Within months of coming to this country you committed murder," he told him.