Two teens sentenced for firework attack
A 76 year old died after a firework was put through his window
Last updated 2nd Jun 2025
Two teenagers have been sentenced for a firework attack in which a pensioner died in his own home in east London.
The Old Bailey heard the 18 and 16 year olds threatened to "torch" Robert Price before breaking a window and putting a firework through it.
Nathan Oltitodilchukwu was jailed for six years and the younger boy, who can't be named, got a custodial sentence of two years, 8 months. Both admitted manslaughter.
Judge Trowler told the younger boy: "Mr Price lost his life in circumstances of a planned attack where I am sure you intended some harm, and in any event it was highly reckless as to the risk of harm."
She noted the older defendant had "poor impulse control" and a "lack of appreciation of the impact on others".
However, his was a "determined effort to carry out this offence and cause harm just short of serious harm", she said.
The judge accepted that the younger defendant may have been "encouraged" by the other boy who had previously been involved in criminal behaviour.
She also noted that he had expressed "remorse" and awareness of the "gravity" of the offence.
In the years leading up to the attack, Robert Price, 76, had been the target of a prolonged campaign of harassment and criminal damage, the Old Bailey was told.
John Shoesmith, who had been friends with Mr Price for 10 years, said he would never leave his house because "kids would disturb him," Ms Farrelly said.
Mr Shoesmith described him as socially awkward and said his lack of social skills and poor hearing meant some people found him "hard to get along with".
According to Mr Shoesmith, Mr Price's windows were regularly smashed by a number of the local children, to the point that he had his downstairs windows boarded up.
"In Mr Shoesmith's words, this would happen all the time and they would make his life hell," Ms Farrelly said.
The most recent incident of criminal damage had occurred three days before Mr Price's death, when a brick had been put through his window, the court heard.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Price's family said he was a "kind" and "generous" man, and described the "suffering" that he must have endured.
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