Inclusion Daily Express -- Three Face Life In Prison For Fatally Beating 'Trusting' Young Man

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Three Face Life In Prison For Fatally Beating 'Trusting' Young Man
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 25, 2008

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND--The third person responsible for the beating death of a man with intellectual disabilities has been convicted of murder.

On Tuesday, a Newcastle Crown Court jury found a 17-year-old man guilty of murdering 23-year-old Brent Martin last August.

The teenager, and a 16-year-old who pleaded guilty of the crime, cannot be named because of privacy laws.

Williams Hughes, 21, had also pleaded guilty.

During the 11-day trial, the jury heard how the three bet each other £5 ($9.90 US) that they could knock out Mr. Martin. Then they chased him for a mile and a half, during which time they repeatedly punched, kicked, stomped and head-butted him.

The teenagers had been trained in boxing.

Martin was found in a pool of blood and taken to a hospital where he died two days later. An autopsy later showed he had sustained at least 18 separate blows to the head and neck, and died from massive head injuries.

Martin's mother said that her son was a gentle man who thought everyone was his friend.

All three of the killers face life sentences.

Disability Now magazine has put together a list of 51 cases over the past two years which it believes are hate crimes based on the victims' disabilities.

Related:
"Fears over disability hate crime" (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7203232.stm
"Brent's mum's thanks for sympathy messages" (Sunderland Echo)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2008/red/0125c.htm
"The Hate Crime Dossier" (Disability Now)
http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/the-hate-crime-dossier

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