The child who confessed should get a reduced sentence?

Yes you are correct! What a fig leaf. But he will get no credit. It is the most depraved case.

I didn't think he'd changed his plea? Last I heard, he was asked if he wanted to change his plea after the verbal diarrhoea on the stand and he declined to do so. His position was that yes, he beat her, but didn't mean to kill her, hence maintaining his plea of not guilty.

Has that changed since the other day? Can't see anything on the news.

I totally agree, and I wouldn't expect him to get a shorter sentence for a minute, minute, should be longer.
People like him, and those who killed those 2 lads, (for example ) are what hanging should be bought back for! Unfortunately even now, there are miscarriages of justice. but back in the day there was a sentence At Her/ His Majesty's pleasure, basically an indefinite sentence ( i think), this should be bought back at least

This disgusting sadist man will not get a shorter sentence. He changed his plea during the trial. No credit.

He is looking at a whole life tariff; for his sadistic cruelty.

In comparison to the others slightly yes in order to encourage other thugs to plead guilty in the future.... however I suspect I'd be harsher on them all eg at least 22 year minimum maybe 4 or 5 yrs less for the guilty plea.

The two things that's not mentioned when talking about prison
Deterrent & Public Safety
I'd put them above rehabilitation.

YABU they won’t but they should all get a double life sentence to run one after the other. Although it would never bring those children back, the perpetrators are a danger to society.

That story is so utterly shocking and disgusting. those poor boys killed that way, for whatever reason, can't bear to think about it and then those monsters going to eat afterwards like nothing happened what is the mentality of people these days feel like nowhere Is safe, Government bought in ban of the sale of these awful weapons but still are being bought on line!!
Regarding the pleading guilty to get a lesser sentence I'd say majority of people who do this in relation to killing someone (or something equally as bad) don't care about what they did, or they wouldn't have done it! it's just to help themselves. I'm thinking this is the only reason Sara Sharifs father has pleaded guilty, he quite happily killed his daughter for no reason whatsoever, so now only thinking of himself IMO

Age is a mitigating factor in sentencing so he wouldn't get the same sentence as the two adults anyway, and as a pp has said, an early guilty plea is also given great weight in mitigation.

The reduction for accepting guilt is standard, plus the youth of the offender must be taken into account. I agree that prison has little effect in rehabilitating offenders, but prsion does have a benefical effect on the community where the offender commits their offences. The knowledge that you won't have to encounter a local thug or have your home ransacked yet again by recidivist burglars for a few years is a comfort for many. This is often overlooked in a system which places the offender at centre of its concern.

Sorry OP, I agree with your partner. Victims were roughly same age as the youngest killer. I think at 15 you’re old enough to know that taking the life of another has very serious consequences. The adult out of the five killers basically just let the group of teenagers have at the victims (who were outnumbered) and they were all active participants.

All for revenge because someone had bricked their house?! I mean wtf just call the police. Horrifically disproportionate reaction.

They say girls/women aren't safe on the street at night. This proves it boys are not safe either.

I do find it odd that the 15 and 16 year old went out at 11.15 at night to get a pizza, but I fully understand that they should be able too and that the fault lies with the scrotes who killed them.

But the two younger lads were also children. That's a sad fact too I'm afraid. At that age they could be rehabilitated, if the resources were there they probably all could be. Stupid irreversible decision that has ruined lives.
I'm not a fan of incarceration because it simply doesn't work, it's expensive & doesn't work.

We should be looking towards countries such as Sweden for guidance they have a much more successful criminal justice outlook.

I'm not with the poster at all, but what do base your hypothesis on?

So teen mums a d dads are poor parents are they?

"It must be terrifying for him.". Not as terrifying as four people stood around you with machetes knowing you are probably going to die.
I'm anything but a hang 'em high , some people have called me a snowflake. But on this occasion I'm not accepting what you say, jail or youth centres are not supposed to be a pleasure.

You know what is terrifying is being attacked and murdered. He is old enough to murder someone he is old enough for the consequences

This case is fucking abhorrent what a fucking waste for all of them.
what Was that 45 year old doing

Sorry OP, he should have the book thrown at him, I agree with your DH, you are being unreasonable.

I mean, the child helped slaughter two human beings, using a machete, then went to McDonalds after.

Was he led by others? Possibly. But if he doesn't know that these actions are horrific and unacceptable, I'm not sure we want him out on the streets again anytime soon.

Exactly, probably proud of himself and believes he's justified in his violence.

Hasn't gone the way they hoped has it!

Yep unfortunately I tend to think you are right.

He isn’t going to be “terrified” in prison either. He’s a thug in a gang, who is about to be placed with other thugs from gangs. He’s going to have a whale of a time.

Good point @prh47bridge

For those who think there should be no reduction, the point of offering a reduced sentence for a guilty plea is to encourage people to plead guilty at the earliest possible opportunity. Doing so reduces the impact of the crime on the victims (or, in this case, the families of the victims), saves victims and witnesses from having to testify and saves public time and money on investigations and trials. In this case, the 15-year-old's guilty plea will not have had that much effect since the other defendants pleaded guilty.

Currently, roughly two-thirds of those facing criminal charges plead guilty. If we take away the reduction for guilty pleas, we can expect far more defendants to take their chances with the jury.

Nah.

If the child was that age and confessed to stealing a couple of lipsticks from Boots* admitted it, was remorseful and would have been scared out of their wits in prison, then yes a custodial sentence is OTT. Murder.... if you're not scared of deliberately murdering someone (as opposed to self defence or severe provocation) then no, they need to go down.

It's the families of the 2 murdered boys I feel for.

*nb this was me. I was a stupid kid who made a stupid mistake and learnt from it.