TWO teenagers face lengthy jail sentences after being convicted of murdering their lifelong friend by beating him with a baseball bat after they fell out at a party in Edinburgh.
Declan Robertson, 17, and Andrew Parfinowski, 18, turned on Brett Lodge, 17, after a night drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.
The victim was struck with such force he died from brain injuries a week after he was attacked in the Liberton area of the capital.
Both Robertson and Parfinowski sobbed as the jury returned with guilty verdicts on the second day of deliberations.
Their friend Cameron McKail, 17, who also faced a murder charge alongside them, was convicted of a lesser charge of assaulting Mr Lodge.
The three accused had anticipated being found guilty –they had brought holdalls to court packed with their personal belongings.
Members of Robertson's family ran from court and cried loudly outside while Mr Lodge's family held hands with each other in the public benches of the High Court in Edinburgh as the jury forewoman delivered the verdicts.
His mother Gillian Lodge said: "Brett was a happy boy with a cheeky sense of humour, who was kind, caring, and did his best to help others and cheer people up.
"He was a loving son, grandson and brother, who always listened to his sister's advice and always made time for his little brother.
"It is still hard to believe he has gone, and harder still to know his life was taken by people he trusted, and thought of as friends.
"Today's decision at court will give us some kind of closure."
Yesterday's convictions came after a four-week-long trial with temporary judge John Morris, QC, deferring sentence on the three men.
A fourth youth, Bradley Lumsden, 17, of Prestonpans, East Lothian, was cleared of murder when the charge against him was dropped during proceedings.
The court heard evidence there was a good atmosphere at the party in the city's Claverhouse Drive with Mr Lodge, drunk, talking and laughing with friends on the night.
However, the youths later fell out with one another and started fighting in the street.
During the trial, Nicole Blues, 17, told the court she saw Robertson assault Mr Lodge on a path close to the street on July 1 last year with Parfinowski kicking the victim in the head as he lay on the ground.
As their friend lay dying, Robertson rang 999 and confessed his guilt to a stunned emergency services operator. He told the operator: "I have done something, like, really bad. I hit somebody with a baseball bat."
He said it happened an hour beforehand and when asked what made him phone in, Robertson replied: "'Cos it was one of my good pals and, like, I never meant to do it and I feel really, like, guilty."
Robertson told the court that since Mr Lodge died, he had received medical help.
He told the court: "It has destroyed my life."
Robertson, Parfinowski and McKail will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on December 6, 2012.
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