The traumatic childhoods of two children who went on to get murder convictions after a 14-year-old boy was knifed in the neck in front of 23 other children have been laid bare.
Harrowing details of the backgrounds of the two teenage murderers of Nathaniel Shani, 14, who were today named for the first time, were revealed at their sentencing.
Baby-faced Kyle Dermody, now 15, stabbed Nathaniel in the neck in an argument over cannabis.
He was just 14 at the time. Trey Stewart-Gayle, 14, was also convicted of murder.
He was 13 at the time and had been armed with a screwdriver and encouraged and Dermody in his killing.
In June both killers were both detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure, which is the youth equivalent of a life sentence.
Dermody was told he would have to serve at least 13 years before he could be considered for release, while Stewart-Gayle’s minimum term was 10 years.
Nathaniel, who was previously friends with Dermody, died following a row over cannabis theft.
They attended Manchester Communications Academy, but met in an alleyway off Tavistock Square on September 15 last year to fight out their dispute.
Nathaniel had become involved in street drug dealing with older people and saw himself as a hard nut with a reputation to keep.
On the day of the murder, cannabis had been stolen from a friend of Nathaniel’s by Stewart-Gayle.
No details of the harrowing upbringing of the two killers can be revealed, with both smoking cannabis from a young age and seeing their parents arrested.
The judge said of Dermody: “From Year 7 onwards, you struggled to learn and displayed concerning behaviour of increasing seriousness. Prior to the offence for which I now sentence you, you had been referred to Children’s Social Care on two occasions — the first following your parents’ arrest, in 2017, for drug-related activity, and the second, in February 2023, following concerns that you were associating with peers who were known to carry knives and identify with a particular postcode or name.
“In the opinion of the youth justice officer who prepared your pre-sentence report, that might suggest exploitation and reflected your perception of masculinity and identity within a certain peer group. You were a regular user of cannabis. Such matters are said to have affected your self-esteem, confidence and thinking skills. In addition, it is said that fear and adrenaline at the time of your offence would have precluded rational consequential thinking and that impulsive emotional risk-taking would have taken over.”
The court heard that Stewart-Gayle’s upbringing had been even more traumatic.
The judge said: “Your pre-sentence report records that you have been exposed to trauma from a young age and have been the subject of five separate referrals to Children’s Services, the result of domestic violence, homelessness, police raids, and
criminality by your father and step-father.
“At the age of 10, you were reported by others to have been carrying knives, and to have been exploited as a drug carrier.
“You disclosed that you were being sexually exploited. There were concerns over neglect and your mother was offered support for her mental health.
“At the age of 12, you went missing for four days, in the belief of professionals owing to criminal exploitation.
“The psychiatric report which I have read records that you lack a stable relationship with your father. The psychiatrist notes that you have symptoms consistent with ADHD, but that you have yet to be formally assessed for that condition.
“In the youth officer’s assessment, traumatic events have formed a major part of your entire childhood, owing to your chaotic and unstable upbringing, all of which have influenced your self-esteem; confidence; thinking skills; and overall view of the world.
You told her that you have been using cannabis from the age of 11, in order to calm yourself down, smoking three spliffs a day.
“Your learning mentor at primary school, has known you for 11 years. I have borne in mind everything which
she has written, amongst which her description of the conflicting aspects of your personality; your ability to be easily manipulated by older children; and your exposure to crime, gang culture and poor mental health, from an early age.”
