Three teenagers have been sentenced for the murder of a homeless man in Liverpool, following a dare that led to a fatal attack. Brothers Connor Doran, 17, and Brandon Doran, 14, along with their friend Simon Evans, 14, beat Kevin Bennett, 53, to death as he slept rough outside a supermarket.
During the trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the jury heard that Connor Doran had goaded Evans by saying, 'I bet you haven't got it in you to do him in.' Evans later told his friend, 'I started kicking him, I booted him and now he's dead.' Brandon Doran acted as lookout during the attack.
The three boys, who all denied murder, were found guilty on 26 February after a four-week trial. Sentencing them on Monday, Judge Clement Goldstone QC described the case as 'a desperately sad reflection on this society that each of you was party to serious violence purely for the sake of it.' Connor Doran, labelled the ringleader, received a minimum of 12 years, Evans was ordered to serve at least eight years, and Brandon Doran received six years.
The brothers' mother, Linda Doran, 42, was jailed for 30 months for perverting the course of justice by providing false alibis for her sons. The judge noted that her eldest son, Ryan, 23, is already serving life for murder. Bennett died in hospital six days after the attack, which occurred in the early hours of 17 August last year. He suffered a fractured eye socket, a collapsed lung, and a broken ribcage, and died from blood poisoning.
