Boy attacked man with bottle ‘because police wouldn’t do anything about paedophile’

A 16-year-old boy has said he attacked a man with stones and a bottle because police ‘wouldn’t do anything’ after luring him to meet a ‘teenage girl’.

Three teenagers are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court charged with murdering Alexander Cashford, 49, in Leysdown-on-Sea, Kent, on August 10 last year.

Jurors have been told the victim met a 16-year-old girl at an arcade in the seaside resort two days earlier and gave her his number, which the boy saved in his phone as ‘Pedo’.

The three defendants – the 16-year-old boy and girl and another boy aged 15 – swapped around 75 messages with Mr Cashford, who thought he was speaking to a girl named ‘Sienna’, the court has heard.

Prosecutors say Mr Cashford was chased and hit with rocks and a bottle before he was found lying face down in mud.

Jurors were previously told that he had given the girl his number on August 8 after meeting her at an amusement arcade.

Using the fake name Sienna, the trio exchanged messages with Mr Cashford and arranged to meet him by the sea wall on August 10.

Jurors heard that after the attack the 16-year-old boy took screenshots of their texts.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, he said this was to show how ‘he was trying to meet up with, well, a 16-year-old’.

Prosecutor Kate Blumgart KC asked him if, when the screenshots were taken, he had thought he had ‘done the right thing’ by attacking him.

He replied: ‘Yeah, kind of, yeah.’

Asked why he believed it was the right decision, the defendant said: ‘Because I feel like the police wouldn’t have done anything.’

He accepted that he had thought of telling officers Mr Cashford wanted to meet up with the girl.

Ms Blumgart asked why he chose not to and he said: ‘Cause I feel like they wouldn’t have done anything.’

Asked what he wanted officers to do, he said: ‘Lock him up.’

Footage played to jurors showed him striking Mr Cashford on the back of the head with a bottle, which did not break, before attempting to hit him with it again at least once.

He accepted wanting to use it to hurt Mr Cashford but said he did not believe it would cause ‘serious injury’.

The prosecution asked: ‘What did you think would happen if you hit someone in the head with a bottle?’

He said: ‘Give him a bump on his head.’

Asked if he thought ‘it might cause serious injury’, he said ‘no’.

‘I’m not really sure what was going through my head,’ he told jurors, adding: ‘It was literally just I saw the bottle and I picked it up.’

Footage of the incident appeared to then show him and his male co-defendant running after fleeing Mr Cashford.

The prosecution has said she filmed the footage on the 16-year-old defendant’s phone.

Meanwhile the girl could be heard screaming: ‘F****** paedophile. I’m f****** 16. You f****** paedophile.’

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Cashford had injuries to his face and head, bruises on his limbs and body, and a number of fractured ribs that had punctured his lung, the court previously heard.

The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously pleaded guilty to a secondary charge of manslaughter.

The girl and the 15-year-old boy deny manslaughter and all three defendants deny murder.

The trial continues.

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