15-year-old who kicked Chris Poole to death jailed for eight years (From The Argus)

15-year-old who kicked Chris Poole to death jailed for eight years

4:44pm Friday 15th March 2013 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

A 15-year-old boy who kicked a “gentle giant” to death after he asked him to stop misbehaving has been jailed for a minimum of eight years.

A judge lifted a banning order so thug Joe Chapman could be named.

However, we are legally forbidden from picturing Chapman who was with his friend, Shane Noble, now 20 but 19 at the time of the attack, when he targeted Chris Poole.

Mr Poole, described by friends as a “gentle giant”, had popped to the Premier convenience store in The Hydneye, Eastbourne, when he was fatally battered in August last year.

The pair turned on him after he told them off. They punched his so he fell to the floor. As he tried to get up they kicked him in the head.

The 46-year-old, of Eastbourne, subsequently died in hospital.

Yesterday at Lewes Crown Court Noble, of no fixed address, was jailed for life to serve a minimum of eleven years and Joe Chapman, formerly of Iden Street, Eastbourne, to serve eight years in a young offenders’ institute.

Mr Poole’s brother, Ricky, said: “Chris was my only brother, my only sibling.

“All the family are here today so you can see what he meant to us. We miss him every day."

Commenting on the sentence, he said: “I expected more but I can see why the judge gave what he did to reduce the chance of an appeal being upheld.

“Thanks to the justice system of this country the two accused were found guilty of the crime they committed, which as far as we're concerned was the only possible outcome.

“In time to come they will be free again and maybe they would have learnt their lesson.

“We, the family, will never be free of our pain and suffering.

"Christopher's life was taken from us by two ruthless people and all those who knew him are united in the grief we feel at the loss of a wonderful son, brother and friend who leaves behind a heartbroken partner Penny and her four children.”

Detective Superintendent Nick May said: “This was a horrific attack – what I would describe as a senseless act of violence.”