"Good fathers and loving families"

Hey - all that stuff about fathers and gun crime ? This Times report blows it out of the water.

"Lawyer’s killers had good fathers and loving family. They chose a life of crime."

So they came from the traditional nuclear family that us throwbacks are always on about, did they ? One mum, one dad, still married ?

Not quite. Delano Brown's father had children by three different women. Delano lived with dad and stepmum - until they split up and dad moved to the States.

Donnel Carty's mother and father never married and did not live together. Donnel's father and grandparents raised him.

Ho hum.

Elsewhere Donnel Carty's mates face sentence.

The court heard today how the men had a string of previous convictions for offences including robbery and burglary. Judge Blacksell, QC, said: "Carty and Brown were tried at the Central Criminal Court on two of the counts and also another count of murder, sadly for the same sort of thing that this jury has had to listen to, that led to the death of the victim." The group rampaged along trains in West London at night, using the interconnecting carriage doors to steam through the train and target potential victims. They would alight from the tube after the thefts, although on one occasion, jumped through the interconnecting doors onto the track when the train was halted in between stations after the alarm was raised.

During the trial Syed Hussnain described how he was one of the first targets as he travelled along the Bakerloo Line into town from Harrow in December 2005. He told the jury he saw a group of five to six boys wearing "hooded caps" walk past before a number of them demanded his phone. He said: "I resisted for 15 to 20 seconds, I held it tight. One of them hit me on the head, he hit me with a punch and my glasses were on the floor. I resisted for another few seconds before they took out two knives, and so when I saw those knives, I then gave my mobile to them."

In the same carriage a young woman had her handbag stolen. When her boyfriend attempted to stand up to the gang he was beaten. The following day Uthayakumar Kulasegrampillai was slashed around the face with a knife by Dennis. Mr Robinson called the attack a "particularly nasty assault", although the courageous victim still gave chase. Mr Robinson said: "The man who did the stabbing, Aaron Dennis, was handed the knife by someone else. He said, 'I have the knife. I'm going to kill you.' He extended it shoulder-height and slashed him in the face. "Dennis then stabbed him in the neck. he was bleeding profusely, but thankfully the injuries weren't as serious as they could have been. It was a particularly nasty assault. "Mr Kulasegrampillai ran after them on the train. He managed to get hold of one of them at the foot of the stairs and struggled with him to keep him there. He was asking for help from passers-by, but sadly none was given."

Britain 2007. Dont'cha just love it ?