Friends don't behave as you did... stabbing him in the back, leaving him to die on the pavement

JUDGE BLASTS KILLERS WHO CLAIMED TO BE TEENAGE VICTIM'S PALS

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

THESE are the faces of the teen killers locked up following the murder of Kyle Hackland.

Kyle, 17, was stabbed to death in broad daylight after being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He was targeted because of his association with a friend, who one of his killers blamed after he was 'set up' in a drugs deal gone wrong. A gang of four young men out drug dealing set upon Kyle in Withington after they saw him walking with his friend, a man named James Todd.

Todd fled when he saw them but Kyle, who knew all four, appeared to be taken by surprise by the brutal attack. Tafari Smith, then aged 16, stabbed him before another two, Yousef Sesay and Lewis Ludford, both aged 18, joined in as Kyle was punched and kicked.

Manchester Crown Court heard that 17-year-old Alfie Benson drove the killers to and from the scene in a stolen VW Golf. After leaving Kyle to die in a driveway on Southlea Road, at about 11.30am on November 22 last year, the four, some of whom claimed to be Kyle's friend, be arranged to 'taken into hiding!

Following a trial which concluded in June, Smith, Sesay and Ludford were found guilty of murder. Benson was convicted of manslaughter. The four can be pictured for the first time after they were sentenced yesterday.

Sesay, of Denton Road, Audenshaw; Smith, of Lancashire Hill, Stockport; Ludford, of Aylesby Avenue, Gorton; were all detained at His Majesty's pleasure, the equivalent of a life sentence for juveniles. Smith will serve a minimum of 19 years. Sesay and Ludford will serve a minimum of 22 and 21 years respectively.

Benson, of Wellington Road North, Stockport, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. A judge hit out at the four when he locked them up.

Judge Alan Conrad KC told them: "Kyle Hackland was a similar age to some of you. He had done nothing at all to deserve what happened to him.