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Three teenagers have been sentenced to custody for manslaughter after luring a man they thought was a paedophile to a beach
A boy and a girl, both 16, each received seven-year sentences, and a 15-year-old boy was sentenced to five years
Alexander Cashford, 49, was killed in Leysdown-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, on 10 August last year
The teens hit Cashford over the head with a bottle, and witnesses saw them throwing rocks and kicking him
They believed Cashford was a paedophile after he met one of them by chance at an amusement arcade two days earlier
The judge said: "All he did was give a business card. He did not touch you. You could have thrown it away"
His parents say his death was "cruel, unnecessary and pointless", in a statement read on their behalf in court
We are ending our live coverage of the sentencing of three teenagers over the killing of Alexander Cashford.
You can read more about the sentencing of the teens, who lured the man they believed to be a paedophile to a beach and killed him, here.
Thank you for joining us.
Joshua Askew
Journalist, BBC South East
CCTV footage of events that happened before Alexander Cashford was killed by three teenagers in 2025 has been released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The first screenshot of one clip shows the teenagers – a girl and two boys – walking to the beach where they attacked the 49-year-old.
The second is of Cashford meeting the 16-year-old girl. During this encounter, he gave her his number on a business card, which led the teenagers to believe Cashford was a paedophile.
Image source, CPS
Image source, CPSA passer-by, who gave Alexander Cashford CPR after he was attacked, says that he saw a "cricket ball-sized lump of chalk" land close to Cashford's head as he lay on the ground.
Witness Chris Bye told Woolwich Crown Court in January that he found the victim lying on the beach in Leysdown-on-Sea, Kent, after three teenagers had set upon him.
Cashford was "not in a good way", he says.
Bye, a former Metropolitan Police officer, told the jury that he was staying at a nearby caravan park at the time.
He says that the rock "definitely” came from a group of teenagers.
Bye adds that Cashford looked very pale, and when asked if he heard what the group was shouting, Bye says that his focus “was really on the gentleman" and that he "needed medical aid".
"As I approached, I said, 'are you OK?' very loudly but was getting no response," he says.
"I checked if he was breathing but he wasn't."
Paramedics arrived about 40 minutes later.
Kent Police have released a statement following the sentencing of the three teenagers.
Det Sgt Alastair Worton says: "Alexander Cashford‘s life was cut short following a vicious attack carried out by a group of teenagers who plotted to meet him under false pretences.
"The devastating outcome of the offenders’ brutal actions that day has left a family grieving the loss of a loved one and young lives changed forever.
"The sentencing imposed on the offenders reflects the conspiratorial nature of their behaviour and the tragic consequences of their crime.
"I would like to thank again the witnesses whose evidence helped secure the convictions in this case, and I hope that the sentences that have now been announced can be of some comfort to Alex’s family as they continue to come to terms with their loss."
Joshua Askew
Journalist, BBC South East
The three teenagers who killed Alexander Cashford on a beach in Kent have been sentenced.
Justice Cheema-Grubb gave the 16-year-old boy, who previously admitted manslaughter, a seven-year sentence.
The 16-year-old girl, who filmed the attack, also received a sentence of seven years.
And the 15-year-old boy got a five-year sentence.
Both he and the girl were found guilty of manslaughter at Woolwich Crown Court in February.
The three set upon Cashford, believing he was a paedophile after he gave the girl his number in a chance encounter in August 2025.
Cashford, 49, was chased and hit with rocks and a bottle, while the 16-year-old boy kicked him on the ground.
Sara Smith
Reporter, BBC South East
The judge says that the three teenagers will serve half of their sentences in custody, with the rest on licence.
“You are all young and you will still be young when you rejoin society," the judge says.
"You did a terrible thing and are all paying a price for it, but there is great potential for you.”
Hearing her sentence of seven years from the judge, the 16-year-old girl breaks down in tears.
She is heard crying loudly in the court room as she is led away.
The judge gives the 15-year-old boy who killed Alexander Cashford five years.
The judge gives the 16-year-old girl seven years in custody.
The judge has given a 16-year-old boy who killed Alexander Cashford on a beach in Kent a seven-year sentence in custody.
She reduced the sentence because of his guilty plea.
Sara Smith
Reporter, BBC South East
The judge says that there is no other option but to impose a custodial sentence on the three teenagers.
"Custodial sentences for children should always be a last resort. I know as children a custodial sentence will have a greater impact on each of you than an adult who had committed a similar offence," she says.
"However, I’ve come to the conclusion there is no other option than custody in this case."
The judge says that the 15-year-old boy who killed Alexander Cashford should have been able to put a stop to the plan.
"You were described as a healthy, strong and decent child with a positive future ahead,” she says.
"You appear to have all the attributes which should have enabled you to put a stop to the plans.”
She also cites psychological reports showing that he has emotional resilience and a lack of health conditions or vulnerability.
The judge cites character references for the 16-year-old girl who killed Alexander Cashford as "kind, caring and respectful”.
“You are sorry for what you did," the judge says.
“You wish you could go back and change your decisions. I believe you.”
The judge says that friends of the 16-year-old boy who was part of the trio that killed Alexander Cashford described him as a "gentle giant".
But she adds: “I’m not able to accept [a report's] conclusion that your actions were not deliberate.”
Justice Cheema-Grubb says that she has reached sentences for each of the three teenagers on an individual basis.
The judge says that she is prepared to accept that the killing of Alexander Cashford "started as mischief among bored teenagers on holiday".
She adds that they "may well have enjoyed laughing about" exposing the 49-year-old as someone behaving inappropriately to a 16-year-old.
But she adds that it "did not stay this way".
The judge says that their activities became "darker" and turned into "dangerous misconduct that risked and ultimately took a man's life."
The judge says that the five minutes after Alexander Cashford tried to escape the teenagers must have been "terrifying".
She adds that the 49-year-old eventually fell after being attacked and "never got back up".
The judge says that the footage of the attack – recorded by the girl – lasts 31 seconds and is shocking.
The judge says the killing of Alexander Cashford was an "appalling incident and senseless loss of life".
"You decided to attack a man that none of you knew and two of you had never met," she says in her sentencing remarks.
"All he did was give a business card. He did not touch you. You could have thrown it away.
"If you were concerned [about Cashford], you could have turned to all the adults in your life."
The three had arranged to meet Cashford on a beach, believing he was a paedophile, and they then killed him.
Justice Cheema-Grubb has returned to the court after rising to consider what sentence to give the three teenagers who killed Alexander Cashford.
Joshua Askew
Journalist, South East
A witness at the earlier trial recalled seeing the teenagers after they killed Alexander Cashford with rocks and bottles on the beach.
Tony Sluce, who was staying in a chalet in Leysdown-on-Sea, told Woolwich Crown Court during the trial that he had been walking with his wife on the evening the 49-year-old was attacked.
He said that they walked past two teenagers, a boy and a girl.
Sluce told the court that the boy "looked as though he'd been in a fight", as he had "red marks on his face" and "grazing on his knees".
Mobile footage taken by the 16-year-old girl shows Cashford running and falling over as one of the two boys pursues and falls over him.
Sluce told the court that he heard the boy say: "I dropped him. He's on the deck. He was a paedo."
The trio had lured Cashford to the beach as they thought he was a paedophile after he gave the girl his phone number in a chance encounter at an arcade.
