A TEENAGER who died of head injuries after being punched was filmed on a mobile phone with blood bubbling from his mouth as he lay in the street, his distraught mother has disclosed.

Siobhan Christmas, whose son Triston was attacked in February, said she was appalled to discover that the video was being passed round on computers and mobile phones.

The pictures were taken by a youth as Mr Christmas, 18, lay on the ground after being punched and banging his head on concrete. He died from a brain haemorrhage six days after being taken to hospital.

Gary Roper, 18, a former friend who held a two-year grudge against Mr Christmas for pinching the bottom of his girlfriend at the time, was convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey last week.

Mrs Christmas, from Ilford, East London, said: “Someone videoed Triston as he lay dying. The film was downloaded to other people’s computers and mobiles. He got it off one of Triston’s friends, but I could not look at it for more than a second. It was just too devastating to look at.

“Triston was lying there with blood coming out of his mouth and his ear — and he was trying to speak. It sounded like he was trying to say, ‘Mum, Mum’, but he couldn’t get the word out properly. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and it will haunt me for the rest of my days.”

Mrs Christmas was deeply distressed that anyone might have passed on pictures of her injured son for kicks and she compared it to the “happy slapping” craze, in which assaults are filmed on mobile telephones for entertainment.

“It’s sick and twisted,” she said. “It was different to normal happy slapping, where people run up and attack strangers and film them in distress. But to video Triston on the ground and download it to other people’s computers and phones . . . That was my boy, my son. It is so awful that I can’t bear to think about it.”

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said that officers were aware of the reports of a film of the injured youth but had not seen it.

Roper was remanded in custody by Judge Anthony Morris for sentencing on September 9. The judge said: “It is almost inevitable that a custo- dial sentence will be imposed upon you for this offence.” The defendant said that he punched Mr Christmas in self-defence, but his claim was dismissed by the Crown.

The judge said before remanding him in custody that he had lulled the victim into a false sense of security before punching him.

Mr Christmas’s father, Peter, who has seen the video, was angry that Roper had showed no remorse. “Roper didn’t give evidence and say he was sorry for what he had done,” he said. “He just tried to make excuses. But my son was led there like a lamb to the slaughter.

“He didn’t stand a chance. He didn’t defend himself. He was never a fighter. Every time he got into trouble it was because of a girl, it was never fighting.”

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