AN 18 YEAR OLD British public schoolgirl has been found guilty of manslaughter after carrying out a fatal drink and homophobia fuelled assault on a 62-year-old man in London’s Trafalgar Square.
Witnesses likened the attack by Ruby Thomas, who had been a student at the exclusive £12,000 a year Sydenham school, to a scene from A Clockwork Orange.
The court heard she screamed “fucking faggots” at the victim and his friend, and smiled as she “put the boot into” Ian Baynham, after he was knocked unconscious to the ground by a second teenager, Joel Alexander.
Witnesses described how Baynham was repeatedly stamped on, and kicked in the head, as he lay bleeding profusely on the pavement. Baynham’s blood was later found on Thomas’s handbag and ballet pumps.
He died 18 days later in hospital.
The day after the assault, Thomas joked on Facebook about her ” row” with “some c***” who pulled her bag, adding: “Ha, ha, ha.”
Alexander was also convicted of manslaughter, and a third teenager, Rachel Burke of South East London, was earlier found guilty of affray.
Thomas appeared distraught during the hearing, and put her head in her hands as the jury returned with a unanimous verdict of guilty of manslaughter.
It has emerged that the teenager had a previous record for violence. Aged just 15, she assaulted a bus driver in December 2007, a short walk from where last September’s attack took place. She admitted the attack and escaped with community service on that occasion.
Thomas and Alexander, who will be sentenced in January, were refused bail yesterday.
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