Rioter Appeal Rejected

12 October 2012, 18:52

A teenager who attacked a Malaysian student during last summers riots in London has had his appeal over his sentence rejected.

Three Court of Appeal judges rejected argument that a seven-year term of detention imposed on 18-year-old Beau Isagba, of Ilford, Essex, was "much too long".

Isagba's attack on Malaysian student Ashraf Rossli, 20, broke his jaw in two places.

It preceded a second crime in which items were taken from the victim's rucksack by two other individuals posing as Good Samaritans.

The incident was filmed and put on YouTube, prompting widespread condemnation.

Mr Rossli, 20, had been in Britain for just a month when he was set upon as looting swept the country in August 2011.

The accountancy student was cycling to help a scared female friend in Barking, Essex, when he was punched in the face.

Lord Justice Moses, Mr Justice Wilkie and Mr Justice Lindblom dismissed Isagba's sentence challenge today, ruling that the seven years was not "manifestly excessive".

It was a "targeted" and "terrible" attack on a "vulnerable individual", said Lord Justice Moses.

Isagba was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery following a trial at London's Wood Green Crown Court earlier this year.

He had admitted a charge of violent disorder and two counts of burglary.

In May a judge sentenced him to seven years for the attack on Mr Rossli, with no separate penalty for the other offences - which varied the sentence he had earlier imposed on Isagba in March.