David Morley (barman) - The Attack

The Attack

The attack on Morley was one of eight that the group carried out in the early hours of October 30, although they had decided amongst themselves that they would attack people on the evening of October 29. A 15 year old associate of the group told police they planned to beat up "tramps, druggies or just people on the street." Morley was the only fatality. The attacks were carried out between 2.30am and 3.20am.

At 3.10am the group encountered Morley and his friend Alastair Whiteside sitting on a bench near London's Hungerford Bridge. They proceeded to attack the pair and stole Whiteside's mobile phone. After stealing the phone they continued to attack Morley and Whiteside. Whiteside's witness testimony stated that the girl, O'Mahoney, finished Morley off by kicking him two or three times in the head, "like a football." After this attack the group continued to attack three more people.

Morley was taken to St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, where he was operated on, but was pronounced dead at 7.40pm. A post-mortem found he had suffered 44 injuries, including five fractured ribs. He died of a hemorrhage from a ruptured spleen and fractured ribs. The pathologist said the injuries were more consistent with those seen after a car accident or someone who had fallen from a great height.

No CCTV images saw O'Mahoney film the attack on Morley (as is the case with happy slap attacks) however she appears to be doing so in CCTV images of the final attack of the night against a homeless man, Wayne Miller. An extensive forensic investigation failed to find pictures or videos of the attacks on any of the assailants' mobile phones.

On January 23, 2006, Sargeant, Case and Blenman were sentenced to twelve years in prison and O'Mahoney to eight years. O'Mahoney had been described as a "child of heroin addicts" with a "particularly chaotic and fragmented life". The other members of the gang were described as "immature and vulnerable to peer pressure".