Review of 'lenient' sentences given to happy-slap killers

The Attorney General is reviewing the "lenient" sentences given to the teenage killers of a grandfather in a "happy-slapping" attack.

Dominic Grieve has called for the papers on the case of Leon Elcock, 15, and Hamza Lyzai, 16, who were sentenced to four-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half-years respectively.

Both pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ekram Haque, 67, after he was punched to the ground for fun as he walked his three-year-old granddaughter Marian home from a Tooting mosque last August.

Mr Haque, a retired care worker, suffered severe brain injury when his head hit the pavement. Elcock was on bail for an earlier attack on an elderly Asian couple at the time.

Following a public outcry over the sentences, the Government's chief law officer is considering referring the case to the Court of Appeal. Mr Haque's family has condemned the judge's decision not to imprison the killers for longer and Tooting MP Sadiq Khan wrote to Mr Grieve urging him to intervene. "I believe these sentences are unduly lenient," said the Labour MP and human rights lawyer.

"In all likelihood, Leon Elcock will serve a little over two years from the date of sentencing, while Hamza Lyzai may be released on licence in a matter of months."

Mr Khan told how Mr Haque's family had been traumatised by the attack.

He argued that the sentences should be increased because the two killers, had attacked two other men only 20 seconds earlier in the same road. They had also taken part in a "happy-slapping" attack on an elderly couple five days previously, kicking and stamping on them in their home.

Calling themselves "Lane Gang Productions", the thugs had regularly filmed assaults on strangers.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office said: "We will examine it in the usual way under the unduly lenient sentences procedure."