Stevenage Christopher Hewett murder: Teen sentenced for manslaughter

A teenager convicted of manslaughter after a father-of-two was stabbed to death has been sentenced to five years in a young offenders institution.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, was armed with a baseball bat during the fatal attack on Christopher Hewett, 31, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on 12 February.

He was cleared of murder while Byron Pollock, 18, was convicted of murder.

Pollock was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years.

At St Albans Crown Court, Judge Michael Kay told him he was part of a "pre-meditated joint attack" on Mr Hewett and his cousin, who had "no weapons and no wish to fight".

During the trial in July, it was heard Mr Hewett was walking to his sister's home with his cousin when they passed a group of four youths.

Words were exchanged between Mr Hewett and the group, but Mr Hewett and his cousin walked on.

As they approached the sister's house, Mr Hewett received a blow from the bat being held by the 15-year-old and was then stabbed by Pollock, the court heard.

The youths ran off and when Mr Hewett's sister opened her door, she saw her brother being held up by their cousin.

Mr Hewett suffered a large wound to his side which his cousin tried to compress, but Mr Hewett was pronounced dead at hospital about an hour after the attack, the jury was told.

The 15-year-old boy told the court he had swung out at Mr Hewett's cousin but had not intended to seriously injure him nor harm Mr Hewett.

A third defendant Ryan Lee, 20, of Wildwood Lane, Stevenage, was convicted of assisting offenders after and was sentenced to two years and eight months.

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