Declan Robertson and Andrew Parfinowski get life for murder of Brett Lodge
Two teenagers who murdered their 17-year-old friend with a baseball bat in Edinburgh have been detained for life.
Brett Lodge was attacked by Declan Robertson, 17, and Andrew Parfinowski, 18, on a path between Claverhouse Drive and Glendinning Crescent in July 2011.
The teenager, from Midlothian, suffered serious head injuries and died in hospital nine days later.
Robertson and Parfinowski, from Edinburgh, will have to serve 13 years before they can apply for parole.
The pair denied murder, but were found guilty last month after a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Their friend Cameron McKail, 17, who was convicted of assaulting Mr Lodge, avoided a custodial sentence. He was handed a one-year supervision order by temporary judge John Morris QC.
Sending them to a young offenders institution, the judge told Robertson and Parfinowski: "There is no sentence that I can impose that can bring back Brett Lodge or can compensate his family for their devastating loss."
Det Ch Supt Gill Imery, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: "Brett was subjected to a vicious and sustained assault, and the circumstances of this case highlight the devastating impact that alcohol-fuelled violence can have on victims and their families.
"The sentences mark the end of the legal process, but they do not mark the end for Brett's family, who have to go through the rest of their lives without him.
"It is my sincere hope the end of the legal process provides some form of closure for Brett's family, and I would like to pay tribute to them for their courage and dignity during this extremely difficult time in their lives."
The court heard the trio had known Mr Lodge, a former pupil of Newbattle Community High School in Dalkeith, Midlothian, since he was a small boy.
On the night of the attack, they had all attended a party at a house in Claverhouse Drive, Edinburgh.
However, the court heard that the youths fell out with one another and started fighting in the street.