Death of David Morley

Who was Death of David Morley?

David Morley was a gay barman who was fatally attacked by a group of youths near Waterloo Station in London on the morning of 30 October 2004. The attack garnered widespread media coverage as a fatality of a violent trend known as happy slapping and due to the original belief that the attack was motivated by homophobia.

In December 2005 four youths were found guilty of Morley's manslaughter. A 15 year old girl, Chelsea O'Mahoney was sentenced to an 8 year custodial sentence and her co-defendants Reece Sargeant, Darren Case and David Blenman, all from Kennington in South London were sentenced to 12 years each. They had been prosecuted for murder, but the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter as they are permitted to do.