The child who confessed should get a reduced sentence?

We don't know the manner in which he admitted it either.

He might have been contrite or he might have said yes, I macheted him and I don't regret it.

I would throw the book at the 45 year old who took them along - he knew they had machetes, and encouraged them. As far as the fifteen year old is concerned, he was the only one to out his hands up, and was also the youngest, so yes, I think that should be taken into consideration. What a tragic loss of young life, and a waste of the lives of the perpetrators. My heart goes out to the poor parents of the two innocent boys whose lives were so tragically cut short.

They all deserve the longest, harshest sentences possible. They should never be allowed out again.

Unfortunately they won't be kept in forever.

Absolutely scandalous. There needs to be a massive crackdown. But they will always be available if you know where to go. And the people that go there, are usually the ones who buy them for nefarious purposes.

Yes, £19.99.

And companies are describing their wares as decorative.

I watched that. The fact that zombie knives and machetes are still easily available online, when they are supposed to have been banned from being sold is horrific. As is the thought that anyone can get their hands on one for very little money.

There was a whole piece on this on BBC breakfast this week. Online is the answer.

The child in question here is 15, so no I don't think confessing should get him a shorter sentence on moral grounds. He still committed the crime, still went out with the intent to commit murder. It wasn't a crime of passion or accident. He isn't any less dangerous just because he couldn't lie in an interview. We have no idea what the evidence against him was, it might be that he only confessed because he knew he was done for anyway.

I think in adult court there are sentence reductions for admitting guilt and saving the expense of a trial. He should be eligible for that if appropriate. But only because he should get whatever the law entitles him to. Not because I personally believe he's done anything particularly moral.

Must be terrifying for him?! Good. What about how terrifying it was for the 2 boys who were killed? How about how terrifying it is for their families? How about, to some extent, how terrifying it is for his own parents having to deal with the aftermath of all of this. They all then went and got a McDonald's breakfast as if nothing bad had even happened. I think he needs a long time in prison to reflect on how that one choice has now buggered his life up forever.

The child who confessed is a monster. His actions before, during and after confirm it. He likely confessed in order to get a softer sentence and probably will. OP should be thinking about every second of terror experienced by the victims and every second of pain their families are living through. I can only hope the perpetrators experience some terror.

Unless you would ask for the same clemency if they hacked your 15 year old child to death then all you're doing here is being a hypocrite. I know I wouldn't. There are some things that mean someone is completely incapable of being a decent human being and planning to hack a person to death with a machete then doing so falls under that category. He probably will get less time for pleading guilty, there are reasons for that and I don't like it, but I understand it. Wanting him to do less time because he's supposedly terrified is ridiculous, he hacked at least one person to death, the fact he's 15 doesn't mitigate this at all. It's easy to say you think he should get less time when it's not going to effect you in any way, shape or form, but I'll bet you'd be singing a very different tune if it was your loved one he'd hacked to death or if after he gets out he moved into your neighbourhood or attacked your loved one. It's easy to say things like this when it costs you nothing. Unless you'd want the same if it was your loved one he'd hacked to death this is just sanctimony and hypocrisy.

Ute's where did they get 2 machetes from?

Who owned those?

For public safety none of the people involved should ever get out. Sadly they will, but a crime like which is planned, carried out and lived with out remorse, should mean life. The whole life without parole.

Those 2 boys look so relaxed and happy playing their xbox. Friends for over a decade. So unbelievably sad. What a tragic waste of young lives. As I get older I lean more towards the lock them up and throw away the key. If you can kill someone when you are 15yo , your'e hardly going to be a fabulous person by 30. Wish they'd all choked on their McDonalds.

@PolkaDotOlgaDaPolga oh gosh yes. Still now even thinking about Dunblane makes me feel sick.

Exactly. I still remember coming home from school as a 14 year old and hearing about Dunblane on the news. Absolutely chilling.

Being from the area this tragic event occurred, and knowing of the people affected (and those involved!) I would hold off on the concern of the “child” that committed this vile act.

Those involved in committing this hideous crime INTENDED to scare/harm/kill. Legally being a child doesn’t make the crime any less evil. Maybe a 4-year-old from a leafy green suburb wouldn’t understand the possible outcome of such an attack, but a 15-year-old, who was born and raised in an area notorious for violent crimes, most certainly would.

Knowle West used to be a solid community, that has sadly been turned upside down by postcode wars.

My mum's friend's son was murdered in a road rage incident by a guy with a machete. If you've never seen a machete in real life you will never understand how utterly terrifying they look. I have seen them due to family farming and I wouldn't ever want to touch one.
So, I don't feel sorry for the 15 year old at all in this. With those kinds of weapons you know exactly what your intentions are.
I can only despair for the those poor victims and the horror they went through.

The McDonald's was enough to do that for me. Frightened? Yeah right . No different from that little tart a few years ago in Brighton bashing that man up because he allegedly fiddled with her. Yeah, so traumatised by The abuse (as if!) She beat him to a pulp with two others. Yeah, right.

Apologies if anyone has already mentioned this already, I'm a bit tired so might have missed whilst skim reading, but I don't feel particularly about the guy because I saw a body cam video of him asking for a puff on his blue razz vape whilst being arrested. If that doesn't change your mind I don't know what will

Some young people get a kick out of being vigilantes. I think it feeds some need to cause chaos in them. I recall a chilling case where a pensioner in Brighton was beaten and left for dead by three teenagers due to mistaken identity. One of them apparently said to her friends "there's that man who nonced me when I was a child. Let's get him."

So due to a stupid comment made when high on something a man gets beaten and left for dead. I don't know many young ladies who can't claim some kind of unwanted sexual attention as children or teenagers ( I had my fair share of it as most of us die- remember flashers being a thing?) But most of us told a grown up or the olive and went on with our day. I reckon cheap booze and drugs plays a part in a lot of teen violence these days.

Nah fuck that! They should all spend life in prison. No parole, no early release, literally die in prison.
While there life should be as uncomfortable as possible for them.

OP has done a rant and run. Guess they didn't get the responses they hoped for.

What kind of person goes out with machetes to get revenge on someone throwing bricks, and then goes out for breakfast? Well, the kind of person we don't want on our streets. Lock them all away until they're too old to hurt anyone else.

This is my concern. They may or may not come from terrible backgrounds - and they
very often do in reality- but irrespective of that something has went badly wrong inside their mind and soul and unfortunately it’s rare for people like that to serve their time,
come out and live a decent peaceful life.

There was a case I saw recently of a teen in Scotland who brutally raped and murdered a woman. He was let out on for a home visit from prison (bonkers) and ended up raping another woman who thankfully escaped with the help of some bystanders. It’s just too much of a gamble IMO.

It's just so so awful and yes today is not the day to wish for a reduced sentence for this killer.

I imagine at least some of them will be named in December.

I hope somehow this tragedy will soften the rivalry between the two areas and mean fewer attacks. None so awful as this with two innocent children involved but there have been other deaths due to this rivalry in the recent past. It's not the whole area that's broken (although Hartcliffe is admittedly very deprived), just a few bad apples.