Six teenage thugs caught on CCTV in a shocking attack on fellow tram passengers with sticks and poles have all walked free from court.
They were part of 20-strong mob that bombarded a tram, in New Addington in south London, Croydon Crown Court heard yesterday.
They then got on board and attacked three men, kicking and punching them and striking them with sticks and socks filled with ballast.
All those who carried out the violent and frenzied attack on three men have avoided immediate jail sentences.
Kieran Hawker, 18, Aaron Henery,18, Robert Elsey, 19, Dean Riley, 19, and two 17-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were involved in the violent assault of three Afghans.
Anthony Patton, 27, of no fixed address, was also part of a group armed with sticks and poles who attacked three Afghan males on Croydon bound tram at King Henry’s Drive tram stop, New Addington, at about 8.00pm on October 1, 2011.
Earlier the same evening the group had chased a number of men from Central Parade into a Shell petrol station on Parkway. The court heard the group assaulted one man before fleeing as plain clothes Metropolitan Police officers arrived.
While the officers tended to the victim inside the petrol station, the group chased three other men on to the nearby tram.
As the victims boarded the tram, one of the group pulled the emergency door release, preventing it from leaving the stop and causing all the doors to stay open.
All seven men have been sentenced for violent disorder. Patton, 27, of no fixed address, was jailed for 12 months for the same offence.
MORE ABOUT