Three teens have been put behind bars after it was found they killed a man in Leysdown-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. They believed Cashford was a paedophile
Three teenagers have been jailed after killing a man they believed to be a paedophile after luring him to a beach, where a teen attacked him by throwing rocks.
A 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were acquitted of the murder of 49-year-old Alexander Cashford, but found guilty of manslaughter at Woolwich Crown Court. Another 16-year-old boy involved in the assault had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Due to their ages, all three defendants are legally unnamed.
The court heard the incident occurred on August 10 last year in Leysdown-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Cashford had given his phone number to the girl two days before the attack.
Jurors were told that after meeting Cashford at an amusement arcade, where he gave the girl a business card bearing a false name, the teenagers began exchanging messages with him using the alias Sienna.
Messages shown in court revealed that Cashford said he was 30, asked whether the girl liked champagne, and told her he wanted to kiss her.
The teenagers arranged to meet him at the seafront in Leysdown-on-Sea at around 7pm. After meeting, they followed him as he walked along the promenade with the girl, before chasing him and attacking him with rocks and a bottle.
Cashford was later discovered face down in the mud. A postmortem examination found injuries to his face and head, bruising to his limbs and body, and fractured ribs which had punctured his lung.
The girl filmed the boys chasing him while shouting “fucking paedophile, I’m fucking 16, get him”. The trial heard that after he was arrested, the 16-year-old boy shared footage of the attack with three people, adding the caption “f***** pedo up lol”.
While giving evidence, the older boy was asked whether in the immediate aftermath – before they were arrested or it was known that Cashford had died – he believed he had “done the right thing” by attacking him. He replied: “Yeah, kind of, yeah.”
When asked his reason, he said: “Because I feel like the police wouldn’t have done anything.”
Danny Robinson KC, defending the girl, told the jury that messaging Cashford began as a “big laugh” and may have developed “into a desire to expose him as someone who should be named and shamed”.
He said the incident was not the result of an “organised plan to kill or cause anyone really serious harm”, but rather “a childish escapade that got out of hand very quickly with tragic consequences”.
The girl and the younger male defendant both told the court there had been no plan to attack Cashford.
Natalie Smith, a senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a carefully pre-planned deliberate and violent attack on someone who was not expecting it and who could not defend himself.
“He was first hit from behind with a bottle and despite his best attempts to flee, he was relentlessly pursued and attacked, even when witnesses reported he was lying on the ground.
“Their joint actions on that fateful evening led to Alexander Cashford’s death. His family now at least have the comfort of knowing that those responsible have been brought to justice.”
The 16-year-old boy and girl have been jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey, while the 15-year-old boy has been put behind bars for five years.