THE mother of a teenager brutally stabbed to death by a youth who was on an electronically tagged curfew has pleaded for changes to the system that failed her son.

Rikki Johnson was given a life term yesterday and told he would spend at least 15 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of murdering 18-year-old Lewis Singleton in March last year.

Accomplice Sercan Calik, 18, of Burgess Road, Bassett, Southampton, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of the manslaughter of the popular Saints fan, nicknamed Ruffian.

A third teenager, Harvell Mason, 17, of Saltmead, St Denys, was sentenced to two years in prison for violent disorder. He was released on a 12-month supervision order because he has already spent more than a year in custody.

Lewis died on March 31 last year after being ambushed by members of a five-strong gang that had lain in wait for him and a friend as they walked through the Woolston area of Southampton in the early hours.

After the month-long trial earlier this year, it emerged that Johnson, 19, of Honeysuckle Road, Bassett, had been on a court-imposed curfew at the time of the killing.

Despite being handed the punishment just two weeks earlier, Johnson had repeatedly breached the order, by failing to report for unpaid work and supervision orders, and then by going out when he should have been at home.

The teenager, who has 12 previous convictions for 25 offences, including battery and assaulting a police officer, had been given the curfew as punishment for burglary and theft.

At Winchester Crown Court yesterday, the judge, Mr Justice David Steel, expressed his horror that the murderer had been able to break the curfew so many times, with no apparent response from the authorities.

Click here to read more stories from the trial

He ordered the Probation Service to put together a report within seven days into its handling of Johnson.

His feelings were mirrored by Lewis's mother, Jeanette Singleton, who has written to the Probation Service and the firm monitoring the tags, demanding improvements.

"Rikki Johnson killed Lewis, but ultimately the system played a part," she told the Daily Echo.

"If they are going to use a monitoring system they need to review it, because it doesn't work at the moment.

"With persistent offenders, it doesn't matter what you throw at them because they're going to ignore it."

She wants a change in the rules to see electric tags monitored locally, and that police are informed immediately if a curfew is breached.

Mrs Singleton also wants the police to be given the instant power to arrest those breaking their terms, and that those offenders be detained until they can be dealt with by the courts.

"The public are unaware that the police have no power of arrest in these situations," she said.

Probation officers took Johnson's case before the courts just two days before Lewis was killed to arrange a date for him to be brought back before magistrates, which was agreed for three weeks later.

"If they had dealt with him then, Lewis would still be alive," said Mrs Singleton, who, through a victim impact statement, had told the court of her whole family's devastation at the murder.

Her calls were backed by comments made by Mr Justice Steel during the sentencing, in which he said he was extremely concerned at the system of monitoring curfews.

"The public in general and the Singleton family in particular must be completely astounded that Rikki Johnson was wandering round the streets of Southampton that night, and not for the first time, in breach of curfew," said the judge.

"If the system isn't working, then the public should be told. If it is working, but people aren't paying attention the problem should be dealt with.

"If the system isn't working and people are paying attention to but don't have enough power to deal with it, it is time they were given the power of arrest."

He said he planned to review the case with senior High Court judges, and in particular the way Johnson was dealt with by the probation team.

Last night Hampshire's probation service said it had done all it could with Johnson.

Director of offender management Chris Mitchell said an internal review was carried out after Lewis' death.

"From our perspective, all the powers that we had to exercise in this case were exercised within the time limits we had," he said.

"We had already returned the case back to court for the breach."

There are currently two ways of dealing with offenders who break an order.

The authorities can either go to the courts to ask for them to be summoned to appear at a later date, or ask for a warrant to be issued for their arrest.

"At the point we asked for the summons the information we had did not show Johnson was serious enough to be held in custody," said Mr Mitchell, who agrees the system could be reviewed.

"There are always lessons to be taken.

"Maybe the power does need to be changed and the law around curfew looked at."