The wife of father of three Garry Newlove, killed as he confronted a gang of teenage vandals, has delivered an emotional plea for the three youths convicted of his murder today to be handed maximum life sentences.

Mr Newlove, 47, suffered massive head injuries after he left his home in Warrington, Cheshire, last year to confront a gang of teenagers about vandalism to cars parked outside.

He was punched to the ground and kicked “as if he were a football,” according to prosecutors. Mr Newlove died at Warrington Hospital two days later, his brutal killing striking a chord with millions.

On the tenth day of deliberations, a jury of six men and six women at Chester Crown Court convicted three teenagers - Adam Swellings, 19, from Crewe, Cheshire, Stephen Paul Sorton, 17, from Warrington and Jordan Cunliffe, 16, also from Warrington.

Speaking after the verdict, Helen Newlove told of how her three daughters still suffered horrific flashbacks of the night of the attack, and how she would not want to continue living if it wasn’t for her children.

“As far as I am concerned, life should mean life. After all, the tariff for murder is mandatory, but why, as the justice system does not uphold this sentence? There should be no lesser tariff, otherwise what is the point of it being mandatory?”

She lashed out at parents who failed to control their children and criticised the Government for failing to get to grips with youth disorder.

She said: “Until this Government puts into place an effective deterrent, the youths of today know all too well they can play the system and get away with it.”

Mrs Newlove also described her devastation at learning that Swellings had been released from jail just hours before he killed her husband. One of the conditions of his bail was that he not enter Warrington.

She said: “It was a shock. We knew he had previous convictions but it was a shock to myself and to my family to hear he had been released that day.

“I’m absolutely disgusted. These magistrates, it’s unbelievable. They let him out and they walk the streets. He’s not taken a blind bit of notice of the conditions of bail. He’s gone out, got drunk and taken drugs and my husband has been left dead.”

As the verdicts were read out today, after 55 hours and 25 minutes of jury deliberations, there were gasps from the public gallery. The 16-year-old convicted of Mr Newlove’s murder hung his head and started to cry as the foreman announced his verdict.

Helen Newlove looked at the floor as the verdicts were read out and broke down in tears after the jury had been sent out by the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Smith.

Swellings, who was wearing a black suit jacket and white shirt, was found guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to two. Known as “Swellhead”, he hung his head and looked at the floor as the guilty verdict was announced.

The 17-year-old cleared today broke down in tears in the dock as his verdict was announced.

Mr Newlove was attacked on August 10 last year on Station Road North, Fearnhead, Warrington, just days before he was due to go on holiday with his wife Helen and his three daughters. He was born in Salford and was a successful salesman, working at a Manchester plastics firm.

In a witness statement to court, Mrs Newlove told how her husband had concerns about a nearby subway, but they had chosen the property in Station Road North because it was close to her parents' home, and her father was poorly at the time.

She said that, within months, their fears about the subway being a magnet for gangs of youths had become true. The gangs would gather, drinking, being noisy and vandalising residents’ cars. Their own family cars were scratched or had the wing mirrors smashed on at least four occasions before Mr Newlove’s murder.

The trio are to be sentenced at a later date.

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