A teenage thug has admitted to an Old Bailey jury

A teenage thug has admitted to an Old Bailey jury trying to rob the two students shortly before the pair were hurled into the Thames ‘for fun.

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The 17-year-old told the court how he regretted not doing anything to stop the violence as tragic Manchester University graduate Tim Baxter, 24, and his pal Gabriel Cornish, 25, were attacked on the Hungerford Bridge.

The teenager admitted attempting to mug the pair and then stealing from another man while the two young men were still floating in the river – after originally denying the offences.

Giving evidence he accepted he kicked music student Mr Cornish in the chest but said he played no part in throwing the pair 40 feet down into the river, in the early hours of June 18 last year.

Mr Cornish was swept along towards the Millbank area where he was spotted calling for help and fished out.

But Mr Baxter, a law student, drowned and the next day his body was recovered from the south shore between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges.

‘I should have stopped them but I thought they were going to chuck me over as well if I tried to stop them,’ the 17-year-old said.

‘I did nothing to save him.

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The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, then claimed that the idea for the callous stunt came from a female member of the mob.

He said she shouted: ‘Come on! Let’s chuck him over – it would be fun.

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‘The girl was egging them on and laughing,’ he said.

And he claimed that co-defendants Cameron Cyrus, 18, and Sonni Reid, 20, then tossed the pair into the water after giving them a ‘good kicking.

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Asked what he meant by a ‘good kicking’, he replied: ‘Punching, kicking, stamping on their heads.

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He said Mr Cornish’s skateboard was then thrown in after them.

And the 17-year-old said, because he had not met the people who were leading the frenzied attack, he felt powerless to stop them:

‘I didn’t know them and the way they chucked the first one over (Mr Baxter) scared me.

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Afterwards the six alleged killers left the bridge covering their faces so that they could not be recorded on surveillance cameras, the court heard.

Yet even though the boy had just witnessed the murderous attack he told how he promptly continued his night of crime by mugging 21-year-old Matt Reynolds, of his wallet, lighter, and mobile phone in Villier’s
Street.

Then he said he stayed with Reid for a while afterwards, despite claiming he was one of the principle aggressors on the bridge.

Earlier the 17-year-old told of a booze-fuelled central London crime spree, consuming vast amounts of super strength cider.

At one stage that day he said he had stolen pnds stlg 40 without any scruples from a sleeping victim.

And when he and pal John Riches, 22, and another met the students on Hungerford Bridge they set about robbing them for more cash.

But when it was discovered that they had no money on them there was a truce and they even shared their booze amongst eachother.

However, the teenager claimed that the arrival of Reid and Cyrus sparked the renewed scenes of horrific violence.

Earlier Riches had told the court how he subsequently heard Reid boasting about the Hungerford Bridge incident to a man at Burger King in Leicester Square.

‘He was saying he had just chucked two people into the water and it was funny.

I thought he was sick for doing it and sick for saying it.

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Riches said when police came to arrest them Reid was shouting at officers ‘saying he was going to beat them up.

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And he told the court: ‘I wanted to get away from him.

I didn’t want to be with him.

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It was then that Riches, who denied involvement in throwing the pair into the water, said he then an urgent statement to police because what he had seen was ‘doing his head in.

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Asked how he felt now about what he saw that night he replied: ‘It’s just like a dream, just voices in my head.

It depresses me and makes me physically sick.

‘I’m sorry, I should have stopped it but I was looking after my safety.

I just couldn’t do anything,’ Riches added.

Riches, Reid, and Cyrus, 18, all of no fixed address, the 17-year-old boy, from Walworth, a boy aged 15 from Woolwich, and a girl of 16 from Upper Norwood, all deny murder and attempted murder.

Reid and Riches also deny two charges of attempted robbery.

Riches alone further denies theft and assault causing actual bodily harm.

The 17-year-old boy has now admitted two charges of attempted robbery in respect of Mr Cornish and Mr Baxter and theft from Mr Reynolds.

The trial continues.

ends