THE faces of two teenage boys who set fire to a sleeping drunk and walked off laughing can now be revealed - thanks to the Kent Messenger Group. A challenge to the court by both the Dartford Messenger and Gravesend Messenger has resulted in the media being able to put faces and names to those responsible for the murder.

Stephen Brookes, 16, of High Street, Northfleet, and John Iveson, 13, of Cornwall Road, Dartford, are now behind bars after being convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of the cold-blooded killing of George Johnstone.

As the 41-year-old loner slept on a bench in Dartford's Central Park in June, Brookes, 15, and Iveson, 13, put firelighters into his beard and pockets and set them alight. Mr Johnstone awoke engulfed by flames which leapt 3ft in the air. He suffered horrific burns and died from a heart attack in hospital a few hours later.

The attack in June shocked anyone who heard about it. Brookes and Iveson could have enjoyed automatic anonymity for life because of their age. But after considering a written challenge signed by the Messenger, Judge Mr Justice Bell said: "There is a strong proper public interest in knowing the identity of those, however young, who have committed crimes as serious as this one, particularly in the general area and community in which they live."

"It is my view that this is the outweighing consideration in this case and I therefore lift the (reporting) restrictions."

The judge specified the pair should serve at least six-and-a-half years before being considered for release. The murdered man's sister Ann Turner, of Rochester, said: "I hate to think what was going on in their (Brookes and Iveson) heads. They knew what they were doing. When they get out they will still be young but George has gone."