Boys sentenced over trucker death

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Two schoolboys have been sentenced to youth custody following the death of a lorry driver, killed when a massive breeze block was dropped from a bridge.

Laurence McCourt, 68, of the West Midlands, died in July when the block smashed through the screen of his cab on the A45 in Northamptonshire.

Dean Ingram, 15, from Wellingborough, was detained for 40 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Jamie Winter, 15, of Wellingborough, was given a one-year detention order.

He was also given a training order after admitting endangering road users.

'Catastrophic consequences'

Northampton Crown Court heard the concrete block which weighed 22kg (48.5lb) killed Mr McCourt, from Sandwell, almost instantly.

His lorry carried along the dual carriageway A45 at Wellingborough for another half mile before coming to a rest on a crash barrier at 0345 BST on 27 July 2007.

It is very important to dispel any idea that throwing objects from bridges onto roads and railway lines amounts to youthful pranks. Judge Charles Wide QC

In court, Ingram, of Jubilee Crescent, was described as a "feral" boy", who had spent the night in "aimless anti- social behaviour."

Ingram, Winter, of Priory Road, and a third youth, who cannot be named, had been wandering the streets to the Doddington Road bridge where the third youth spat at vehicles, Winter threw a bottle and Ingram a small stone that hit the roof of a lorry before finding a breeze block.

The court heard that Ingram was "bitterly remorseful" about what had happened.

Judge Charles Wide lifted reporting restrictions on naming both youths.

Jailing them, he said: "It is very important to dispel any idea that throwing objects from bridges onto roads and railway lines amounts to youthful pranks.

"The dangers of catastrophic consequences if things are thrown is obvious."