He sentenced him for each of the two offences of murder to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
But the right to use it as a defence remained – except for offences of murder and treason – and it is still valid today, though there have been only a handful of cases.
The MPA defines "knife crime" as follows: All offences of murder, attempted murder, threats to kill, manslaughter, infanticide, wounding or carrying out an act endangering life, GBH without intent, ABH and other injury, sexual assault, rape, robbery where a knife or sharp instrument (defined as any instrument that can pierce the skin) has been used.
"It is the prosecution case that the defendant, Sean Mercer, was the person who fired that fatal shot and that he is, therefore, guilty of the offence of murder".
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) spokesperson said: "Following a careful consideration of all the available evidence, it has been decided to prosecute two men for the offence of murder.
"Although this will not help those already convicted, perhaps this is now the time for parliament to give consideration to whether the offence of murder should now be divided into first and second degree murder".
Detained in Belmarsh prison since May 2004, he was charged five months later with 15 offences of inciting murder, stirring up racial hatred and possessing a terrorist document, a ten-volume "Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad".
Each boy is charged with an offence of attempted murder for each victim and each boy is also charged with an offence of robbery against each victim".
Shauneen Lambe, director of Just for Kids Law, said: "In the last 10 years, [we have] seen a rapid increase in children being charged and convicted of the gravest of offences, including murder, under the controversial extended principle of joint enterprise, which means that they did not even have to intend an offence to happen to be found guilty of it.
The death penalty is mandatory for a number of offences including murder and possession of drugs over a certain amount.
In the biggest prison escape in British history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army IRAA) prisoners, who had been convicted of offences including murder and causing explosions, escaped from H-Block 7 (H7) of the prison.
