“Shocking and saddening”: West Midlands Police react to Shawn Seesahai 12 year-old killers sentencing

Two boys, now aged 13, were both aged 12 when they took a machete to a park, where they killed stranger Shawn Seesahai.

The youngsters, from Wolverhampton, have been labelled Britain’s youngest knife murderers. They stabbed 19 year-old Shawn in the heart on the city’s Stowalawn playing fields on November 13 last year. He suffered a skull fracture as he fell to his death.

Shawn, who'd been living in Birmingham, had only been in the UK for about six months, having come over from his home in Anguilla for eye surgery.

The child killers are believed to be the youngest defendants convicted of murder in the UK since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James Bulger.

The Wolverhampton murderers, both now 13, cannot be named because of a court anonymity order.

Chief Superintendent Kim Madill, from West Midlands Police speaking outside Nottingham Crown Court after the sentencing, said: “Shawn was only 19 when his life was taken at the hands of two boys, then aged just 12, who had armed themselves with a machete.

“That reality has had a huge impact on us all, it is both shocking and saddening. The impact of knife crime is devastating no matter where you live in the country, this is an issue that affects us all.

“Much work has been done and we have had successes in some areas, however, this is clearly not enough.

“We are listening to families affected by knife crime and acting on their feedback to see what more we can do with partners to stop the devastation caused by knife crime.

“Our responsibility is to work together with partners to understand why children and young people think it is OK to carry weapons and take further action to stop this extremely dangerous behaviour.”