Pupils in school uniform ‘knifed boy to death’

A GANG of children still wearing their school uniforms chased and killed a 16-year-old boy last May, a court was told yesterday.

Nicholas Pearton died from a knife wound to his heart after the group of mainly 15 and 16-year-olds, armed with knives and other weapons, pursued him through a park in south-east London.

“He was unable to escape. When he was caught, he was stabbed and killed,” prosecutor Edward Brown told the Old Bailey.

“Some of the defendants were in their school uniform at the time of the attack — in their blazers and ties.”

Brown added that the violence might have been the result of an earlier clash at a school between two gangs, the Shanks and Guns and rival Black Mafia.

The teenagers deny murder.

Within minutes of the attack Pearton was dead, stabbed in the back and lying in a shop doorway, said Brown.

Nicholas died after the knife pierced his heart after the gang of mainly 15 and 16-year-old members of the S&G chased him through Home Park, Sydenham, south-east London, in May last year.

Brown said: “Nicholas Pearton was chased across a public park by a group of young but armed teenagers.

“He was unable to escape. When he was caught he was stabbed and killed.”

Brown said it was alleged that one of the 17-year-olds stabbed Nicholas, but all the boys had been acting together.

But he added: “More than one of those hounding down Nicholas Pearton was armed with a knife.

“It may be that the defendant who was able to reach Nicholas first, the quickest runner, was the one who stabbed him.”

Brown said Nicholas was the only white boy involved in the incident that afternoon.

Six youths aged 14 and 15, two aged 16 and two now aged 17, deny murder. They are all from the south-east London area but cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The trial continues.