TEENAGE 'HAPPY SLAPPING' KILLED RETIRED AS HE WALKED MOSQUE

[Daanyeer]

Teenage 'Happy Slapping' gang members killed retired care worker as he walked home from mosque with his grand-daughter

By Daily Mail Reporter
16th June 2010


Members of a 'Happy Slapping' gang today admitted killing a retired care worker in front of his young grand-daughter as they walked home from mosque.

The two, aged 15 and 16, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the manslaughter of Ekram Haque, 67.

They also pleaded guilty to assaults on four other people before Mr Haque's death.

Another 15-year-old youth pleaded guilty to the other assaults which caused actual bodily harm. He denied manslaughter.

They cannot be named because of their ages.

They had all been charged with murdering Mr Haque last August in Tooting, south-west London, as he walked home from a mosque.

He died from a head injury a week later. The attack was witnessed by his three-year-old granddaughter.

The thugs were all part of a 'happy slapping' gang which called themselves Lane Gang Productions.

Detectives recovered at least six videos of 'happy slapping' incidents taken from mobile phones.

No mobile evidence was recovered relating to the attacks in the charges and detectives are unable to say they were 'happy slapping' incidents - only an escalation of their behaviour.

The defendants who admitted the killing were aged 14 and 15 at the time of the attack. The third youth was 14.

Judge Stephens remanded all three in custody to July 23 for sentencing.

The gang targeted vulnerable people in the area where a number of Asian people live.

The three teenagers pleaded guilty to causing grevious bodily harm to Atta-ul Hassan Mir and Imdad Bukari.

They were attacked in separate incidents just before Mr Haque as they left the mosque in Church Lane on August 31 during the Muslim festival of Ramadan.

The two youths who admitted the manslaughter also pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm to Jasumati and Jushbhai Patel on August 26.

They burst into the Tooting home of the couple, thought to be in their 70s, after being asked not to sit on their wall, and punched and stamped on them.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told Judge Martin Stephens that the pleas were acceptable.

There was CCTV footage of two of the youths striking Mr Haque from the front and back, and the third running off with them.

Mr Altman added: 'It is a case of two youths creeping up on a defenceless elderly and vulnerable man minding his own business and deliberately attacking him with the obvious intention to do him some harm.

'The two blows did not themselves inflict serious injury. It was the unhappy and all too familiar tale of a blow stunning or rendering Mr Haque unconscious by which he fell backwards, hitting the back of his head, suffering a complex fracture leading to secondary brain injury of which he died a week later.'

Mr Altman said the youngest boy 'stood by' and did not hit Mr Haque but ran off with the other two after the attack.

He told the court that the prosecution had consulted with the son of Mr Haque before accepting the pleas.

'One understands the sentiments and emotions but Mr Haque was very understanding about the position in this case,' Mr Altman added.

'Manslaughter was always a realistic alternative given the nature of this attack and the way in which death resulted in this case.'

He said there was no evidence that any of the boys were armed with a weapon.

Judge Martin Stephens QC said he would consider naming the defendants before sentencing.

Ekram Haque was born in Calcutta and moved to Belfast in search of work in 1972.

He met his wife there and they moved to London in the early 1980s.

Mr Haque originally worked in textiles but later became a warden in a home for the disabled. He retired last year.

A police spokesman said the three youths were not affiliated to any street gang and had attacked their victims for fun.

'These were just three people out on a warm sunny evening who decided for their amusement or entertainment, or just out of boredom, to run around and hit people,' he said.

'Their actions had devastating consequences for the family. They caused the death of a man and robbed a son of his father.


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