Violence outside court as Spence three get life

James Kell • Published 20 Apr 2009 17:00

THERE were ugly scenes outside Reading Crown Court when scuffles broke out after three men were jailed for life for murdering teenager Robert 'Junior' Spence.

Followers of Bristol men Nicholas Olu, Leon Wilson and David Brooks clashed with Junior's family and friends.

Threats and insults were hurled as the exchanges spilled out of the Shire Hall courts complex into the Forbury.

Police called for back-up and more officers arrived in riot vans and formed two cordons, ushering the rival groups in different directions. But scuffles were still sporadically breaking out and they took around 30 minutes to regain control of the situation.

In court, Olu, 31, and Wilson, 32 were told by Judge Zoe Smith that they must serve a minimum of 20 years in jail. Brooks, 33, must spend at least was told he must spend at least 22 years in prison..

Olu's barrister Richard Carey-Hughes said his client had no previous history of violence and Judge Smith accepted that he had shown "hitherto good character".

Prosecutor Ian Acheson told the court Wilson had previously served time in jail for firearms offences, but his barrister Alison Levitt said that he was a "secondary party" to the events that took place in St Mary's Butts on May 2 last year, in which the 17-year-old Whitley youngster suffered fatal stab wounds, and his friend Emmanuel Connor was seriously hurt.

Ms Levitt said: "There was no premeditation, the violence flared up so quickly that even those on the street didn't know what was happening."

For Brooks, Michael Fritton said he had made efforts to improve himself through education since being released from prison in 2003 following sentences for assault and GBH involving knives.

Sentencing the trio, Judge Smith said that they would remain on licence for the rest of their lives but added: "There is nothing that can ever ease the pain felt by Robert Spence's family or the trauma suffered by Mr Connor."

For more reaction, see this Thursday's Reading Chronicle.

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