A man who admitted being involved in a gang attack while still a schoolboy is now facing a life sentence 15 years later after his victim suffered an epileptic fit and died.
Jordan Burton, now 33, was aged 14 when he caused a serious head injury to Daniel Allright during an attack by a group of youths in Lewisham, south-east London, in September 2006. Daniel, then 16, suffered life-changing injuries and died at his home in March 2022 during a seizure in his bathroom at the age of 31.
Guilty verdict and background
Burton initially denied being involved but later pleaded guilty to violent disorder and unlawful wounding in 2008. He was charged with murder in October last year and was found guilty on Tuesday.
Burton showed no emotion as the verdict was returned but held his head in his hands after glancing to the public gallery where members of his family wept.
Details of the attack
During the trial, jurors heard that Daniel was hit over the head with a piece of wood, an advertising board and a bicycle chain. He suffered 'significant' bleeding around his brain and an increase in pressure in his skull following the attack and had to undergo a craniotomy.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the jury Daniel 'developed epilepsy as a result of the attack' and suffered his first seizure in March 2007. He was prescribed medications to treat epilepsy, but his seizures increased in severity in the months before his death.
Witness account and legal proceedings
In a witness statement to the police after the attack, Daniel said he had been on his bike with two friends after leaving his home in Oscar Street when a group of males tried to rob them in Friendly Gardens on September 13, 2006. He said a black male, later identified by him as Burton, asked him if he wanted to fight, before he was handed a piece of wood which he hit Daniel with multiple times. Two white males in the group joined in the attack, hitting him with weapons while Daniel tried to defend himself with his arms up.
The assault was interrupted and the attackers ran off when someone came out of a shop and told them to leave the victim alone.
Burton's involvement and sentencing
In police interviews in September 2006 after he was arrested in connection with the incident, Burton said he saw what happened but denied being involved or knowing anyone involved. But his involvement was confirmed by his guilty pleas to violent disorder and unlawful wounding in 2008, Mr Atkinson said.
One of the other attackers involved pleaded guilty to violent disorder in 2007, while another admitted using threatening words or behaviour. Mr Atkinson said: 'This provides confirmation that all three were involved in the attack on Daniel Allright. None admitted an offence involving an intent to cause Daniel really serious harm, but that is the question for you now to consider in relation to this defendant.'
Daniel was found dead in the bath at his home on March 26, 2022, a day after he messaged his mother to say he had suffered a seizure and had a bad headache. A post-mortem examination found no evidence he had drowned or suffered any natural disease, and post traumatic epilepsy was found to be the cause of death.
Therefore, Mr Atkinson told the jury, it is the prosecution's case that Daniel died as a result of the epilepsy which itself was a result of the head injury he sustained in the attack in which Burton was an 'active and deliberate participant'. He said: 'The fact that others who were identified are not here, does not alter the fact that the defendant in your charge has been identified as a party to the assault, which, the prosecution say, you can conclude ultimately led to Daniel Allright's death.'
Burton will be sentenced by Judge Anthony Leonard KC on Wednesday.
