Richard Everitt

Richard Norman Everitt (6 December 1978 – 13 August 1994) was a white 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in London, England.

Everitt's neighbourhood, Somers Town, had been the site of ethnic tensions.

He was murdered by a gang of British Bangladeshis who were seeking revenge against another white boy.

Richard did not provoke the attack and had no history of anti-social behaviour.

Richard Norman Everitt was born on 6 December 1978 in Camden, London to Norman and Mandy Everitt.

His family were native to North London and moved to the Somers Town Estate in 1986.

Everitt had two older siblings: Daniel and Lucy.

His hobbies included building bikes, football, and playing on his Sega Megadrive.

In court Everitt was described by a friend as "well-liked, very kind and someone who would do anything for anybody" and by the prosecution as "a mild-mannered and harmless 15-year-old boy who presented an easy target".

Somers Town, in the London Borough of Camden, was experiencing urban decay in the early 1990s.

Many of its white families had been moved onto newer estates, and the ones who remained lived in poverty and unemployment, and felt in conflict with Bengalis.

Bengalis were living in the neighbourhood's worst housing, with problems of overcrowding due to their larger-than-average families.

White youths and Bengali youths attended different youth clubs, and interracial relationships were shunned.

Hate crimes occurred in the area, with statistics showing that they were predominantly against Bengalis; white locals claimed that these statistics owed to phony or exaggerated reports filed by Bengalis to gain preferential access to housing.

Bengalis said that their complaints were going unheard.

Everitt attended South Camden Community School, where the ethnic tensions continued, although he was not involved in them.

His mother had previously complained when he was allegedly threatened with a knife by an Asian pupil.

Rosemary Harris, an anthropologist from nearby University College London, researched Somers Town's ethnic unrest in the early 1990s.

She documented gangs of white, black and Asian origin, and concluded that the unrest was not caused by external political extremists but rather the playground rivalries of teenagers.

She observed a discussion between Everitt's parents and a teacher after he was attacked by a Bangladeshi group, weeks before his murder occurred.

Harris said that Camden Council were uninterested in the research when it emerged that the unrest was not solely due to white racism, and said that school staff were fearful of disciplining Bangladeshis.

A local Asian police officer said that the police were hesitant to see Somers Town's gang problem as race-related, and preferred to erroneously consider it motivated by rivalry between different estates.

On the night of 13 August 1994, Everitt returned from playing football and went to buy food with his friends.

They returned with the food in a bag, walking along Midland Road next to St Pancras railway station and then turning onto Brill Place between 21:00 and 22:00.

A gang of Asian youths had set off from the Euston area towards Somers Town, seeking revenge on an Irish teenager named Liam Coyle over a grievance related to stolen property.

The prosecution said that the gang represented "a danger to any vulnerable white youth whom they happened to encounter".

The gang first surrounded a 16-year-old boy named Mark Andrew on Goldington Street and demanded to know whether he knew Liam; when he replied that he did not, they punched him, pursued him and attempted to stab him in the back, with the victim suffering a small knife wound.

One of the gang members was heard to shout "Oi, you cunt, you're going to die".

The gang then moved south and then west along Brill Place.

Everitt was with two other white boys on the night of his murder, who were identified in court as PP 9 (aged 14) and MF (aged 17).

The Asian gang had initially been walking away from the boys, but upon spotting them they turned around.

One of the gang, who the prosecution contended was Miah, demanded to know whether MF knew Liam Coyle; when MF replied that he did not, he was headbutted and accused of lying.

MF and PP then managed to run away and escape.

Everitt was caught and stabbed in the back with a seven-inch kitchen knife in his shoulder blades, piercing his heart.

His friends notified his parents, who came to him as he was carried into an ambulance.

Everitt died at the hospital.

Badrul Miah, Showat Akbar, and Abdul Hai were tried in 1995.

Miah was given a life sentence, with minimum terms of 12 years.

Akbar was sentenced to three years in custody for violent disorder.

Abdul Hai was acquitted by the jury on the direction of Mrs Justice Steel, the trial judge, at the close of the prosecution case.