Two teenagers who viciously attacked a 49-year-old loner while filming it for social media after he made sexual advances to a schoolgirl are facing jail after being convicted of killing him.

The duo were found guilty of manslaughter after Alexander Cashford was punched, kicked and beaten to death then left lying in a pool of his own blood. A second boy already pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The barbaric assault was filmed by the 16-year-old girl, who was initially approached by Mr Cashford in an amusement arcade in Leysdown-on-Sea in Essex, on August 8 last year.

The girl and her two friends, boys aged 14 and 15 at the time, but a year older now, saved Mr Cashford’s number in the older boy’s phone as ‘pedo’.

Mr Cashford claimed to be 30 and believed he was meeting with a 16-year-old named Sienna, having spent the previous 48 hours sending scores of texts to what he thought was her phone, telling her she was pretty and asking if she liked champagne.

But the boys ambushed Mr Cashford minutes after he and the girl began walking along the promenade, with the older boy picking up an empty glass bottle and striking his victim on the head while the girl screamed her encouragement.

The older boy said he originally intended just to ‘hit’ Mr Cashford, because he felt it was ‘wrong’ for him ‘trying to get with a 16-year-old’.

Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found the trio – all on holiday with their families – not guilty of murder. 

Alexander Cashford was killed by the trio last summer

Distressing footage played during the trial showed the moment the older boy began attacking Mr Cashford, who was unaware he was being followed while walking with the girl.

Mr Cashford ran off, with the two boys in persuit, but then fell to the floor.

He got up and began running again, with the older boy hot on his heels. Mr Cashford stumbled again when he got to rocky ground.

Witnesses said they saw the older boy throwing rocks or stones at Mr Cashford as he again lay prone on the ground.

Footage was captured by the girl, filmed on the older boy’s mobile phone, in which she was heard yelling: ‘f****** paedophile, I’m f****** 16’ and ‘get him’.

The group then left Mr Cashford face down and casually walked back into the town.

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Cashford had injuries to his face and head, bruises on his limbs and body, and a number of fractured ribs that had punctured his lung.

The 16-year-old boy told jurors he sent a video recording of part of the attack to three other friends because he was ‘showing off’.

He and his friends were arrested within around half an hour after a quick-thinking eye witness secretly tailed the group and helped direct police to their location.

The court heard the older boy expressed surprise that he was being arrested on suspicion of murder, telling officers: ‘I’m a big guy. If I wanted to kill him, I would have done.’

Mr Cashford, 49, was attacked with a bottle

He was also kicked about the body

He was pronounced dead at the scene

The boy told jurors: ‘I was surprised. The way I saw it, I didn’t do enough damage.’

He admitted manslaughter but denied murder.

The girl, and the younger boy, denied manslaughter.

The girl declined to give evidence, with her counsel Danny Robinson KC telling jurors: ‘The plan was to give Mr Cashford a slap.’

The younger boy said he wasn’t aware of the plan to attack, but went along for the safety of the girl.

‘I didn’t want him to think he could get away with meeting up with younger girls,’ the boy told the court.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber from Kent Police described the ‘macabre’ way in which the children filmed the incident and then uploaded it to social media almost instantly.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Whilst the nature of the assault itself is quite alarming, the more alarming feature is the way that such young people have gone about doing this to someone of 49 years of age.

‘For some people at a young age, you’re like: Why are you using social media as a platform to promote this kind of stuff?

‘It’s quite alarming, really, for people at that age to do that.’

The court heard Mr Cashford showered the girl with compliments over text, saying ‘I would really like to kiss you’.

They then agreed to meet up at 6.45pm on the Sunday – an earlier time than ‘Sienna’ originally suggested, after Mr Cashford told her he was ‘working nights’.

In reality, police believe Mr Cashford wanted the meeting to take place earlier rather than later because he was on a tag due to being convicted of stalking, and needed to be home that evening as part of his licence conditions.

Mr Kimber said: ‘He was keen to meet up in the afternoon, he couldn’t really meet up in the evening because he had somewhere to be.’

He said there was no evidence to suggest the group were part of a so-called ‘paedo-hunter’ vigilante group, although the girl initially told police she wanted to ‘expose’ Mr Cashford.

Mr Kimber said: ‘There was nothing illegal about his actions, whatever people’s views are, he certainly didn’t act illegally.

‘We deal with the incident based on the evidence and the legal standing. Really, it’s not a moral judgment, it’s an evidential judgment.’

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.