Birmingham Mail

After raiding the Nationwide building society offices in Birmingham city centre, Fletcher and his accomplices could have fled with their loot.

Instead he turned on his heels and shot dead Joseph Nwabuko, a 28-year-old student.

There is a suggestion that Joseph may have been attempting to follow the gang.

But that does not explain why Fletcher murdered him since the robbers could easily have roared into the night in their car.

Rather, this swaggering thug did not adhere to the same sort of rules that guide the rest of us and make the world a better place.

Here is a man who was fond of flaunting expensive jewellery and clothes in the mistaken, twisted belief that they somehow made him enviable.

Here is a man who gained status not through his efforts, intelligence or goodness, but through violence and ruthlessness.

Here is a man who was a product of a "bling" culture that puts possessions and so-called respect above the well-being of others.

When a mind is so dulled by worthless desires, there is no room for the decency and morality that prevents society descending into chaos and savagery.

Today, though, Fletcher has no status other than that of an anonymous, unloved prisoner looking ahead to life behind bars.
In the long years that lie before him, let Fletcher reflect on his misdeeds and on the sorrow and fear he caused.

Meanwhile, let the rest of us remember and mourn Joseph Nwabuko, a thoroughly decent young man taken from those who loved him.

Our thoughts are with them.