AN APPEAL court has shown no mercy to the "happyslap" killers of barman David Morley on the South Bank.

Judges refused to cut the 12-year manslaughter sentences handed to three youths who kicked Mr Morley to death in October 2004.

Reece Sargeant, 21, Darren Case, 18, and David Blenman, 17, were told on Thursday the courts would show "no mercy" to those who take pleasure in inflicting gratuitous violence. Mr Morley's death was the brutal climax to an orgy of unprovoked violence along the South Bank by a teenage gang, led by 16-year-old Chelsea O'Mahoney, who filmed the spree on her mobile phone.

Mr Morley - a survivor of the 1999 Soho nail bombing - was attacked as he chatted to a friend beside the Thames at 3.30am and never recovered consciousness.

O'Mahoney has previously failed in a bid to challenge her eight-year manslaughter sentence. Case and Sargeant, both of Sambrook House, Hotspur Street, Kennington, and Blenman, of Baltimore House, Hotspur Street, Kennington, will serve at least two-thirds of their sentences before being released on licence for the remainder of their terms.