Teenager killed London shop keeper because he refused to sell him Rizla

Boy sentenced to four years after store worker Vijaykumar Kumar dies in unprovoked attack

Vijaykumar Patel died after he suffered a head injury when he was attacked at work (Metropolitan Police)

A teenager who killed a London shopkeeper because he refused to sell him cigarette papers has been locked up.

The 16-year-old boy “launched” himself at convenience store worker Vijaykumar Patel, 49, leaving him with a “catastrophic” head injury during an attack in Mill Hill, in the northwest of the capital, in January.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had claimed self-defence, but was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in a young offenders’ institution on Friday.

During sentencing, the Old Bailey was told the boy has ADHD and low intelligence, as well as previous convictions for weapons possession and kicking a teacher at his school.

At the time of the killing, he had been on bail and was in breach of a curfew.

Philippa McAtasney QC, argued in mitigation that the boy was “not beyond hope and help” and had been seriously affected by the stabbing of a youth worker friend who had confronted a drug dealer.

The teenager had also written a letter to trial judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith, expressing his remorse over the incident.

However, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith refused to show the boy lenience.

“He is a time bomb,” the judge said: “The record, the facts of this case, the contents of the [pre-sentence report] with the analysis of very high risk of causing significant harm, I do not find [the report] surprising at all.”

The court had previously heard how the boy was one of three teenagers who walked into the shop while Mr Patel, of Colindale, was working on the evening of 6 January.

Due to concerns they were underage, the shop attendant refused to serve them Rizla cigarette papers, which angered the youths, prompting them to attempt vandalising the shop.

CCTV footage of the incident showed Mr Patel did not move towards or gesture at the group, merely standing outside with his hands in his pockets ensuring the store was not damaged.

It was then the boy leapt at him, striking him on the neck and in turn causing a fatal head injury as he fell to the floor.

Another shop worker then chased the boys away with a billboard sign and a broom as they fled the scene while laughing and joking, the court heard.

Mr Patel was rushed to St Mary’s Hospital in central London but died the following day from the injury to the back of his head.

“The CCTV shows he was simply standing with his hands in his pockets doing nothing,” Mr Justice Stuart-Smith told the defendant.

“What happened next was that you deliberately moved to the left and launched yourself at Mr Patel taking him off his feet and to the ground.

“He was completely defenceless and did not move - you struck him.”

The court heard no victim impact statement had been prepared as the Patel family was in India.

Additional reporting by PA