Britain: Four British men have been jailed for life for a machine-gun attack that killed two teenage girls outside a new year party in an outrage which prompted a wave of revulsion against gun crime.
A judge at Leicester Crown Court yesterday recommended that Michael Gregory (23), Nathan Martin (26) and Marcus Ellis (24) - a half-brother of one of the victims - serve a minimum of 35 years.
A fourth man, Rodrigo Simms (20), should serve at least 27 years, the judge said.
Charlene Ellis (18) and Letisha Shakespeare (17) were each hit four times as people in a slow-moving car opened fire on them as they stood outside a party in Birmingham in 2003.
The convicted men, all said to be members of a gang called the Burger Bar Boys, were also found guilty of attempting to murder Charlene Ellis's twin sister Sophia and their friend, Cheryl Shaw.
Det Supt David Mirfield, senior investigating officer, said: "The message this sentence must send out is that gangs and guns will not win. To any youngster . . . please take it as a wake-up call."
Lawyers for Ellis and Simms are to appeal the conviction.
During the trial some witnesses were given pseudonyms and kept out of sight of defendants, while others had their voices electronically disguised in an effort to protect them from intimidation.