Teens who filmed dying boy after machete attack locked up for more than 72 years

15 February 2024 , 14:30

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Dray Simmonds and Joshua Edgington were both jailed for life

Four teenage killers have been jailed for life for a chilling daytime machete attack on a 16-year-old school boy who was filmed as he lay dying.

Joseph Riches bled to death after being ambushed by the gang of four boys who chased him then attacked him with a 2ft long blade after he came at the with a screwdriver in Stourbridge town centre. The machete was plunged into the teenager's chest and pierced his heart.

Joseph left a pool of blood on the roadside as he helplessly scrambled into a car driven by his friends. His lifeless body was discovered in the vehicle when it was dumped almost six miles away from the scene of the killing. His murderers callously ran away, later going to a party and staying the night together.

Dray Simmonds and Joshua Edgington, who were 19 at the time, as well as a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to their age, denied murder but were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday. During sentencing today, Mr Justice Wall said Edgington, of Hallewell Road, Birmingham, filmed his dying victim after the attack before the footage was played at the party later that night so the killers could 'glory in what they had done'.

Jospeh Riches was killed (West Midlands Police / SWNS)

Simmonds, Dixon Green Road, Dudley, inflicted the fatal blow but his three accomplices were convicted on a joint enterprise basis. All four were jailed for life with Simmonds and Edgington given a minimum term of 21 years each. The 17-year-old boy was given a minimum term of 15 years, and the 16-year-old, a minimum term of 15-and-a-half years behind bars.

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Joseph, from Bartley Green, was in Stourbridge town centre with friends on July 15 last year. He spotted another group of teenagers and ran up to them at the bottom of the High Street, the trial previously heard. He attacked two of them with a screwdriver before trying to get into a car with his friends which had pulled up alongside him. But he struggled and instead ran off. His killers chased him until they managed to attack him with the machete.

The motive for the conflict between the two groups is still not known.

Kelly-Ann Mills