Man jailed for racist taunts that led to death

A MAN from Burwash has been jailed for four months for his racist taunts which led to the death of a 16-year-old Arab student.

Paul Rockett, of Ham Lane, was sentenced on Wednesday after being found guilty of racially aggravated common assault on a friend of the student outside a Hastings kebab shop last year.

It was his taunting which sparked a fatal brawl which ended with the death of Qatari youngster Mohammed al-Majed, who was punched to the pavement where he hit his head.

He died two days later.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall said Rockett, 22, and his two friends involved in the incident were a "terrible advertisement to the youth of this country".

George Austin, 22, of Bermondsey, London, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years at Lewes Crown Court for the manslaughter of al-Majed on August 22, 2008.

A third defendant, Alexander Quinn, 19, of Mountbatten Close, Hastings, was told he would spent the next two years in a young offenders institute after being found guilty of wounding another of the student's friends.