Three cleared over teenager 'revenge' killing

Two men and a youth were cleared today of shooting a teenager in the head in a revenge attack.

The 15-year-old recruited two older men to help him "get even" after being beaten up, it was alleged.

Sharmaarke Hassan, 17, was gunned down in May 2008 in a crime "as casual as it was callous", an Old Bailey jury was told.

The court heard that there was an "overwhelming likelihood" that Sharmaarke was not even the intended target.

Four days after the shooting in Camden Town, north London, his life support machine was turned off.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said the killing was carried out in revenge for an incident earlier that day when the 15-year-old youth was humiliated by being beaten up by one of the victim's friends and two other boys.

But the jury found the youth, who is now 17 and cannot be identified because of his age, Didi Parkes, 24, of Cricklewood, north west London, and Chen Shire, 22, of Kentish Town, north west London, not guilty of murder.

Jurors were told there was no identification evidence linking any of the defendants to the murder.