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'I only meant to scare him'
27/03/2007 18:10 - (SA)
London - A teenager was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering a young father who was trying to protect his fiancée and three-year-old son from bullying.
Peter Woodhams, 22, was shot dead in front of his family on the doorstep of his home in east London last August.
The shooting happened after he confronted youths he thought were bullying him, the jury had been told.
Bradley Tucker, 18, faces a mandatory life sentence after being found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.
The painter and decorator, of Canning Town, east London, had admitted manslaughter and a related firearms charge but denied murder, saying he had only meant to scare Woodhams, and had not realised the gun was real.
A 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter, after being accused of acting as a look-out for Tucker.
The shooting came at the end of a campaign of violence and bullying by "hoodies" on the estate in the Custom House area of London.
Woodhams, a TV engineer had suffered a knife attack in the months before his shooting, but no one was apprehended for that crime.
He died after confronting Tucker, believing him to have been responsible for the knife wounds to his face and neck.
- Reuters
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