Life imprisonment for New Year gang killings

Four British gangsters were jailed for life yesterday for machine-gunning two teenage girls outside a New Year party, a murder spree which prompted a wave of revulsion against gun crime.

A judge at Leicester Crown Court recommended that Michael Gregory, 23, Nathan Martin, 26, and Marcus Ellis, 24, - a half brother of one of the victims - serve a minimum of 35 years each in prison.

A fourth man, 20-year-old Rodrigo Simms, should serve at least 27 years, the judge said.

Friends Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, were each hit four times from a slow-moving car as they stood outside a party in Birmingham, central England, in 2003, victims of a botched revenge attack.

The convicted men, all said in court to be members of a gang called the Burger Bar Boys, were also found guilty of attempting to murder Charlene Ellis's twin sister Sophia and their friend Cheryl Shaw.

"Four men will today be starting a total of 132 years in prison... The message this sentence must send out is that gangs and guns will not win," said Detective Superintendent David Mirfield, senior investigating officer in the case.

"To any youngster who sees this today, please take it as a wake-up call," he added.

Lawyers acting for Ellis and Simms said they would appeal against the conviction.

The high-profile trial forced the Crown Prosecution Service to resort to an array of methods to protect witnesses over fears they were suffering gang intimidation and would not testify.

Some were given pseudonyms and kept out of sight of defendants during court proceedings while others had their voices electronically disguised during testimony.

The killings also mobilised anti-gun and anti-gang campaigners in Birmingham, who called on police to break the cycle of violence, especially among poor, black youths.

Speaking outside the court, Letisha's mother Marcia Shakespeare said only: "We put our faith in the police".