Judges reject bid to increase sentences for teens convicted of racist murder

Judges have rejected a bid to increase the jail sentence of two teenagers who murdered a man delivering groceries to his mother in an unprovoked racist attack.

Marcus Staniforth, 18, had been found guilty of Kamran Aman's murder and received a sentence of 17 years in prison, while a 16-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons had received a sentence to 15 years in prison.

Their sentences had been referred to the Court of Appeal to see if they had been unduly lenient.

The court found the trial judge, Justice Griffith, had neither overlooked or underestimated the seriousness of the teenagers' offending

Lord Justice Popplewell paid tribute to Aman's family who were at the hearing in London on Thursday, where he acknowledged their "profound loss and suffering" and the dignity they had shown.

He told the court that sentencing children was a "particularly difficult task", and the trial judge had paid clear attention to both the individual circumstances of the boys and the circumstances of the murder.

Both boys watched the proceedings via videolinks at their young offender institutions.

Staniforth, who stabbed Aman in the heart and tried to wash the knife with bleach to destroy evidence, was seated in a large room with a security officer by his side.

Dressed in a grey zipped top and grey tracksuit bottoms he yawned and stretched repeatedly as the court was told he was of exceptionally low intellect and had an IQ of just 60.

He was described as "pathetically keen to support his friend" on the night of the murder.

The younger boy sat in a small, locked room dressed in a black denim jacket.

The court heard he was drunk and high on cocaine when he spotted Aman leaving his mother's home after delivering shopping.

Aman died after suffering a single stab wound to the heart.