The court heard that Mr Divarakan, originally from

The court heard that Mr Divarakan, originally from Malawi, moved to Britain in 1982, and married two years later.

He was made redundant from his job in the book trade in 1984, and used his severance pay to start up City Bargain Bookshop, which also sold toys, games, and CDs, with a partner.

Mr Bowyer said there had been problems in the past with local youths, but none of those are believed to be related to the fatal incident.

Although the dead man’s partner usually dealt with trouble-makers, he had gone home ill on May 21, and Mr Divarakan had to deal with the gang.

Mr Bowyer said: ‘Mr Divarakan was a mild-mannered man who would preferred to let things go rather than have a confrontation.

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The 16-year-old girl who threw the punch which knocked Mr Divarakan down was later given five years custody for the attack.

Her boyfriend Lewis was also given five years, while Bahremand was got 18 months.

The 17-year-old girl, who stood around with Bahremand cheering the others on, wept as she was sentenced to a four-month detention and training order.

Judge David Stokes, QC, flatly refused to allow the two girl thugs to be named despite an application from the press.

Sentencing the gang, Judge Stokes told them: ‘Mr Divakaran was a gentle, hard-working, decent, loving family man – a thoroughly useful member of society.

‘You were in a group of six, all young, and he had the courage to confront you and demand the ball back, as any decent person in his position would have done.

‘You launched a vicious attack on a middle-aged man.

After he had fallen, he was obviously completely defenceless.

‘This was an utterly despicable attack, and above all a cowardly one.

Afterwards you ran off, having no concern for your victim.

‘As a result of your actions, a family has been utterly devastated.

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There were gasps from friends and family of the defendants in the public gallery as the sentences were announced.

Mr Divakaran, of Croydon, Surrey, was married with a 13-year-old son and nine-year-old twin daughters.

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After the sentencing the officer in the case DI Robin Cross said: ‘When all is said and done because of the brutish and thuggish behaviour of this group of young people, when they were challenged by a quiet and unassuming young man their response was one of violence, punching and kicking him to death.

‘Because of that his wife is left without a husband, his 14-year-old son and two twin nine-year-old daughters are left without a father – dreadful really.

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Mr Divakaran’s partner in the bookshop later slammed the sentences and blasted the judge’s decision not to allow the girl who threw the final punch to be publicly named as ‘bullshit’.

Ravinder Singh, who has struggled to run the shop on his own since the incident, said: ‘The length of the sentences is very confusing.

‘It just numbs the mind.

Yet again, we have another case where you can get away with killing someone just because you have a deprived background.

‘If you stand in a shop all day, breaking your legs and struggling to make a living, and then someone comes along and takes your life away you cannot fight back because you are a decent citizen.

‘If Kumbra had killed them he would probably have got more time than they did because he has not got a deprived background.

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Referring to Judge Stokes’ decision not to name the killer or her 17-year-old pal, Mr Singh fumed: ‘Again, the law is taking the criminals’ side.

‘A hard-working citizen who does not pay his council tax is named and shamed in newspapers.

But a person who kills someone else cannot be named? It’s bullshit.

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