Four youths have been found guilty at the Old Bailey of killing bar manager David Morley during a "happy slap" spree of random violence.

Six youths appeared for trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with the murder of David Morley on 30 October 2004, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Darren Case, aged 18, Reece Sargeant, aged 21, a 14-year-old girl and another 17-year-old male - all from Kennington were cleared of murder but convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.  They were also found guild of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, but were cleared of conspiracy to rob.

Two of the convicted youths - Darren Case and Reece Sargeant

The four were remanded in custody pending sentence on 23 January.  Barry Lee, 20, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named because of his age - were cleared of all charges and freed.

The court heard how the gang conspired to go to the Waterloo area of Lambeth on the evening of 29 October to commit random acts of violence and robbery. Together they attacked eight victims in five incidents between 2.30am and 3.20am.

At approx 3.10am David Morley, the 37-year-old bar manager from Chiswick, who survived the bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho in April 1999, and his friend Alistair Whiteside were sitting on a bench near Hungerford Bridge when the gang attacked, knocking them both to the ground-punching and kicking them.

Their pockets were searched and Mr Whiteside's mobile phone was stolen. The assault then continued and the female juvenile kicked David Morley in the head.  The victim died later that day in hospital following the attack.

A post-mortem found Mr Morley had suffered 44 injuries from the beating including five fractured ribs. He died as a result of a haemorrhage from a ruptured spleen and fractured ribs.  The pathologist report said Mr Morley's injuries would be more commonly seen in people who had been in a road traffic accident or fallen from a great height.

Prosecutor, Richard Horwell told jurors how the 14-year-old girl, now 15, who cannot named for legal reasons, had kicked Mr Morley's head like a football as he lay on the ground.

After the killing, the gang members carried on their attacks and she later filmed their last assault on a mobile phone, the court heard. Within one hour they had set upon eight people in five separate attacks in the early part of October 30 last year.

The lives of the "happy slap" gang who became killers "held such little interest that they set out on a plan to use violence for its own sake".

They mirrored the gang in the fictional book and film Clockwork Orange. In Anthony Burgess's portrayal of teenage violence, codewords were also used to signal violence.

The real life attacks were triggered with the words "you know what time it is" - signalling who would lead the violence and strike the first blow.

"It was random, indiscriminate violence for what can only have been pleasure," Mr Horwell told the court. He described it as "a case which is as depressing as it is alarming".

Mr Morley survived the Soho nail bomb blast on April 18, 1999, only to be savagely beaten to death by the Clockwork Orange style thugs.  His father Jeff said after the jury's verdicts that "the rest of society will be safer while these dangerous misfits are kept off the street"