UK: Anger at teenagers who set man on fire
The family of a man who was set on fire and dumped in a river hit out at the two teenagers found guilty of his manslaughter in the UK today.
Thomas Orme, 15, and James Quantrill, 17, were found guilty today of setting light to 25-year-old Toby Atkin’s clothes, branding his face with a lighter, urinating on him and then dumping his unconscious body in the River Welland, in Spalding, Lincs, in the east of England.
The teenagers met Mr Atkin, who had a drink problem, at the town’s bus station on May 17, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
After stealing a bottle of vodka they led him to the river’s bank, where he drifted in and out of consciousness through drink and painkillers.
The teenagers, who filmed part of the attack on a mobile phone, then started kicking him and pushing sticks up his nose, before urinating on him and pushing him in the river.
In a statement today, his parents Wendy and Richard hit out at Quantrill and Orme. They said: “One day the families of these two will have them home again.
“One day they will walk through their front doors again. Toby will never be coming home again. We have lost him to these two, who haven’t even had the decency to look remorseful in court.”
They added: “May 17, 2007, is the day that changed our lives forever; it is the date that our son Toby, was cruelly and callously taken from us and will be eternally etched on our minds.
“Every mum will say that their child is gorgeous, but Toby has such beautiful green eyes, which seemed to twinkle when he smiled.
“He didn’t just smile with his mouth, his whole face seemed to light up, especially his eyes which always looked full of mischief.
“So to sit in court over the past few weeks and to hear of what our son went through, that he was urinated on and that his face and eyelashes were burned, has been torture for us.
“Toby had a gentleness about him, which in our opinion is very rare in young men nowadays. So many people in the town have told us what a polite and pleasant person he was.
“Although we knew he wasn’t perfect – that he was a bit of a scally – but he was a likeable scally who would do anything for us.
“We sometimes thought that Toby and his older brother Ben had drawn the short straw in life, having two disabled parents. But neither of them ever complained.
“Toby, after training to be a chef at college, would cook dinner every night for us. We were both so proud of him.
“We accept that Toby occasionally got into trouble with the police, and that one of his only failings was that he did drink. However, I truly believe that with the right help we could have had our old Toby back again. Now he will never get that opportunity to prove to us, to himself and others that he could stop drinking.
“We will remember Toby for everything he was, good and bad. To us he was a loving and much-loved son and brother.”
The parents went on to thank their neighbours for supporting them.
