A British man has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter for burning to death an 18-year-old gay teenager in England.

18-year-old Steven Simpson, (pictured above right) was gay and suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, at his 18th birthday party, Simpson became drunk and had homophobic insults scrawled on his arm and stomach, told to strip to his boxers was then covered in tanning oil and Jordan Sheard (pictured above left),  a 20-year-old at the party, held a cigarette lighter to the teen’s groin. The flammable liquid quickly caught on fire. But instead of helping Simpson, Jordan Sherard ran away.   Steven Simpson received burns to over 60 percent of his body he later passed away at the hospital from his injuries.

The Yorkshire Post reports:

Judge Roger Keen told him: “What it did was engulf him in a fire. You tried to briefly assist and then you ran away. That in my judgment is serious aggravation.”

The court heard the only person who went to Steven’s aid was neighbour Sean Banner who burned himself in the process. But when Mr Banner returned to the flat in Pleasant View, Cudworth, near Barnsley, he was initially arrested on suspicion of murder. Sarah Wright, prosecuting, said that earlier in the evening Sheard, who vaguely knew Steven, and two others joined the party and were let in despite having not been invited.

Sheard’s lawyer Andrew Smith said his client’s actions were a “criminally stupid prank that went wrong in a bad way.” But prosecutor, Sarah Wright, said that actually what Sheard’s lawyer described as “good natured fun” was at the expense of a mentally vulnerable person and was “cruel behavior” toward someone who was an easy target.

Jordan Sherard was sentenced to only two and a half years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Mind boggling. Only two and a half years.

How the hell can deliberately setting someone on fire and killing them get someone a two and a half-year sentence?

Two and a half lifetimes would be more appropriate.