A PRECIOUS young life was squandered when Kevin Sudall was "kicked and stamped to death" outside a Blackburn night club.

And three other young lives were wrecked when the perpetrators of this sickening crime were given life sentences for murder.

For the families of all four, life will never be the same again.

Sadly, there appears to be a belief among many young men today that a night out should be marked by a macho act.

They believe that violence equals manliness.

How such a cowardly act could be construed as "macho" is beyond us. As the trial Judge said, Kevin Sudall was completely defenceless when he was set upon by three murderous thugs. That is not manly.

All Kevin was looking for was a pleasant night out.

Young men have got to realise that if they kick someone while he is lying on the ground there is a good chance they will kill him.

And the penalty for that is life imprisonment.

Today our thoughts are with the family of Kevin Sudall.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.