Standing ovation as killers jailed

An Old Bailey judge received a standing ovation sentencing the killers of a father
12 April 2012

A judge was given a standing ovation from the packed public gallery of the Old Bailey as he gave life sentences to the killers of a devoted father.

Judge Peter Rook ordered the three teenagers should not be released for at least 27 years for murdering father-of-three Eddie Thompson, 29.

Some of the family and friends shouted "Thank you, judge" as they clapped.

Mr Thompson was gunned down, mistaken for another man as he sat on a Sunday afternoon in a VW Golf at traffic lights in Hackney, east London.

Kallum Morris, 19, of Hackney, recruited Paul Stoby, 18, of Hackney, and Kieron Lawrence, 19, of Walthamstow, to carry out the shooting: they were found guilty of murder earlier this month.

Judge Rook told them they had "devastated" the lives of Mr Thompson's three sons, his partner and his mother.

The judge added: "You are part of the gun culture which has blighted some of our cities."

The trial heard that Mr Thompson had been sitting in the front passenger seat of the Golf last September while the "intended target" for the hit, Arman Suleyman, sat in the back.

Mr Suleyman had been going to get into the front seat but let Mr Thompson sit there as he was bigger.

Stoby and Lawrence were seen by witnesses to run into the nearby Pembury estate in which Stoby lived, the court heard.

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