THE leader of a teenage gang was ordered to be detained indefinitely yesterday for the "futile and unprovoked" murder of a dedicated Co Wicklow born headmaster, Mr Philip Lawrence.
His widow, Mrs Frances Lawrence, watched Learco Chindamo (16) bow his head as the Common Sergeant of London, Judge Neil Denison, ordered him to be held during "her majesty's pleasure".
The judge said Mr Lawrence was a good man and an inspirational teacher. He dedicated and directed his life to providing a future for young people in his care. You took that life and diminished that future," he told the youth.
Mr Lawrence was stabbed to death outside St George's Comprehensive School, London, as he went to try and help a pupil who was being attacked by Chindamo's gang.
Mrs Lawrence, a mother of four, had attended court every day of Chindamo's four week trial. She said nothing and showed no emotion as he was convicted unanimously by the six man six woman jury after 3 1/2 hours of deliberations.
But outside court, a short statement was read on her behalf. In it her husband's murder was described as "an earthquake which has destabilised the very foundations" of the family's lives.
Mrs Lawrence feels that now her, place is with her children. Her primary concern is to guide them through the aftermath. There are many issues, however, about which she will speak more fully in later days."
As soon as Chindamo was convicted, Judge Denison lifted the court order banning his name from being published. During the trial he tried to blame another youth for the stabbing.