Post by Taxigirl on Dec 3, 2003 18:38:02 GMT
Some of Adam's remains were found in the town's canal
A teenager has been found guilty of murdering a 14-year-old schoolboy whose chopped up body parts were found scattered around a Midlands town.
And a teenage girl has been convicted of carrying out a savage attack on the boy.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how Matthew Welsh, 19, was the dominant figure in a gang of three friends who tortured schoolboy Adam Morrell for up to three hours.
His girlfriend, 17-year-old Sarah Morris, was found guilty of deliberately assaulting the youngster but cleared of his murder.
Another teenager, Daniel Biggs, 19, was cleared by the jury at Nottingham Crown Court of murder or any part in the sustained attack on the schoolboy.
During the trial, the jury was told that Adam Morrell, 14, suffered more than 280 injuries to his body during an assault that lasted hours in November 2002.
Manslaughter plea
He was then killed and his body chopped up and wrapped in plastic bags. The bags were found scattered around Loughborough in Leicestershire.
Morris, Welsh and Biggs had all denied murdering the schoolboy.
A fourth person, 27-year-old Nathan Barnett, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at an earlier hearing.
All four pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Adam's body parts were found scattered around Loughborough
A jury at Nottingham Crown Court has heard that the friends had been drinking and taking ecstasy before the attack.
Morris testified that Adam was kicked and punched over a period of several hours after he threatened to report their drug-taking to police.
He was kicked "like a football" and his injuries were so severe that "he looked like an alien", the court heard.
Barnett admitted at a separate hearing that he strangled the boy and chopping his body up with a saw.
Biggs denied taking part in the attack or killing of Adam.
All four will be sentenced on 17 December.
Unknown motive
The judge has ordered pre-sentence reports to be prepared.
After the verdict Detective Superintendent Bob Small, of Leicestershire Police, said: "This was a particularly gruesome crime and I don't think it would be too strong to call it the prolonged torture of a 14-year-old boy over a period of many hours.
"The injuries he suffered were absolutely horrific and he would have been in a great deal of pain.
"At the moment Adam's parents are shell-shocked and it has not sunk in yet but they have conducted themselves with the utmost dignity throughout this trial."
He added: "It is still not clear in my mind what the catalyst for this terrible assault was."