FIVE boys who pelted a man with stones before he died from a heart attack have been given community supervision orders.

Ernest Norton’s family and senior detectives said justice had not been done.

Mr Norton, 67, died after the five boys – aged just 10 to 13 at the time – fired sticks, stones and pieces of wood at him as he played cricket with his teenage son at Erith Leisure Centre in February 2006.

The father of two collapsed when a half-brick hit him on the temple, fracturing his cheekbone, and died in a pool of blood in front of 17-year-old James.

His young tormentors, who cannot be named, were convicted of violent disorder and manslaughter at an Old Bailey trial in the summer.

They were locked up for two years in October – but set free when the Appeal Court quashed the manslaughter verdicts in December.

The boys – now aged 12 to 14 – have been given a 12-month community supervision order for the violent disorder convictions at Croydon Crown Court.

Widow Linda Norton, 56, said: “I feel numb again. Justice hasn’t been done but it is the way the law is and that is all we can do.

“I don’t suppose it has taught them a lesson but if more had come of it maybe they would have done. They don’t realise the outcome of their actions.”

Even lead officer in the case, Det Insp Clive Heys, launched a stinging attack on the sentence.

He said: “In my own personal view, the sentence doesn’t fit the circumstances of the crime in this case. That is by no means a criticism of the judge. It is the law that doesn’t allow a stiffer sentence to be given.”

Det Insp Heys added: “I don’t think justice has been done. I think the law needs to be changed to account for circumstances such as these.”

Judge Warwick McKinnon QC said he had no choice but to give the boys community punishment because of their ages.

He said: “I hope that what has happened to you, the fact you did have to serve two months of the original sentence has benefited you. It certainly appears to be that way – thank goodness for that.”

For the full story and exclusive interviews with the Norton family see next week’s Bexley Extra.