Two jailed for 'punishment swim' killing

Two men were jailed for five and a half years each today for killing a 16-year-old boy found drowned in a water-filled claypit.

The body of Shane Owoo was recovered from Lunt Pool, Bilston, West Midlands, on September 30 last year.

Christopher Lewis, 22, and Marvin Walker, 21, were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after admitting manslaughter at an earlier hearing.

Tobias Davies, 21, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced today to 12 months in jail.

Shane was assaulted in the street and then "escorted" to the pool by Walker and Lewis for a "punishment swim" on 29 September.

Sticks were used to stop the youngster, described by police as "not a strong swimmer", getting out of the water.

His body was recovered the next day.

The court heard that Shane had been "frogmarched" down to the pool and prevented from getting out.

Sentencing, Judge Peter Coulson said: "This was a long and terrifying ordeal deliberately inflicted on Shane Owoo."

He described the crime as "extraordinarily callous behaviour". The court heard that Shane had been assaulted earlier that day by all three defendants over a row about a stolen bike.

Shane was punched, slapped and kicked because it was believed that he had taken a bicycle belonging to the brother of one of the defendants.