THIS is the chilling moment a 13-year-old boy gathered bricks to use as a “missile” before he murdered a teen during a brutal attack.
The schoolboy and accomplice Kai Howitt hurled pieces of masonry at 24-year-old Jack Edwards – leaving him with “catastrophic” injuries.
He died in hospital two days later after suffering a fatal wound to his skull.
Harrowing footage has now been released of Howitt, 19, and the teen gathering bricks in the moments before the attack.
The killer pair ran around the skate park in Nottingham where the horror unfolded before hurling the objects “like missiles” from “close range”.
Howitt has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 14 years, while the younger killer was sentenced to five years and six months in a young offenders institution.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the horror unfolded on December 5 after Jack had been released from prison.
He reportedly made “rude and sexual” comments to two girls at the skate park – causing one to phone the 13-year-old boy.
The teen then returned with a group of youths before they were joined shortly after by Howitt.
Jurors heard Jack had been “erratic and confrontational” but “posed no physical threat to anyone”.
Despite this, both boys worked in unison during the attack before Howitt threw a brick at the side of Jack’s face that shattered his skull.
The killers then left Jack for dead on the ground as they fled the park together.
He was taken to the Queen‘s Medical Centre in Nottingham but was declared dead two days later.
Detective Inspector Clare Gibson, of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: “Throughout each stage of this investigation and the murder trial that followed, Jack’s killers never owned up to their crime.
“Despite knowing exactly what they’d done, both defendants denied any wrongdoing, with Jack’s family having to relive what happened to him in court as a direct result.
“By launching pieces of masonry at Jack from point blank range, they must have realised the harm this could potentially cause, but both chose to throw them at him anyway.
“They then immediately compounded what they’d done by fleeing from the scene and not trying to help Jack, who they instead left dying on the ground.
“I can only imagine the pain Jack’s family are still going through but I’d again like to praise them for the way they’ve conducted themselves, both throughout our investigation and the court proceedings too.
“While no punishment handed out will ever make up for the ordeal they’ve suffered, I hope the sentence passed today will provide Jack’s loved ones with some small degree of comfort.”
In the days that followed, the 13-year-old searched how many years in prison a person could receive for “bricking” someone.
Howitt also made multiple searches about the horror before he was snared by police.
In a victim impact statement, Jack’s mum Zoe Edwards told of her “endless, crippling pain that no parent should have to feel”.
She added: “The shock and trauma caused by the murder of my son will never go away. I feel a constant eerie emptiness.
“I will never see my son again. Never hear him laugh. Never see his smile light up a room.”
