Three men and a teenager are facing life in jail for hunting down a 17-year-old boy to murder him in cold blood.

Teenager Harry Baker desperately ran for his life as he was chased by a pack of killers for around a mile through a seaside town.

But he was found dead at a shipping port after suffering a "swift, bloody and merciless attack" by the rival drugs gang.

Three men and a teenager were today found guilty of murder in connection with Harry's death Barry, South Wales, in August 2019.

Three more men were found guilty of manslaughter after a trial at Newport Crown Court.

Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said Harry's blood-covered body was found by workers arriving for their shift at the Intermodal Terminal at the town's docks.

Mr Lewis said: "He was lying face-down on the ground. He had been repeatedly stabbed and his clothing had been stripped from his body.

"He was just 17 years old at the date he was so brutally murdered.

"Harry Baker was deliberately targeted as a victim. He was ruthlessly hunted down by vicious people who were determined to find him."

Newport Crown Court heard Harry and friend Louis Johnson were "ambushed" in a street by the gang in a row over selling drugs - and he tried to flee.

Mr Lewis said: "The two of them ran away from attackers. They were chased by an armed and deadly gang through the town of Barry and towards the docks for a distance of about a mile.

"Harry Baker attempted to escape his pursuers by climbing a fence and taking refuge in a secure floodlit docks compound. He no doubt thought he would be safe there but he wasn’t. His killers were determined.

"They subjected him to a swift, bloody, and merciless attack before quickly fleeing from the scene.

"Fortunately for him, you may conclude, Louis Johnson managed to escape the gang by climbing back out of the compound fence and fleeing the scene.

"Harry Baker was not so lucky. He was stabbed repeatedly and he was left to die alone in that yard."

Mr Lewis said pathologists concluded it must have taken Harry Baker some time to die from his injuries".

He added: "As he lay dying his attackers made off in a car sent to the scene in order to make their getaway.”

The court heard Harry, from Cardiff, was hunted by the gang after he started to sell drugs in Barry.

Leon Clifford, 23, Leon Symons, 22, Peter McCarthy, 37, and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named were found guilty of murder.

Ryan Palmer, 34, Lewis Evans, 62, and Raymond Thompson, 48, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

The Judge, Mr Justice Picken, said they would return to court on March 29 for sentence.

Welcoming the verdicts, Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Miles, said: “This was a brutal, senseless and calculated attack, which tragically cost a young boy his life.

“Despite being from a loving family and wanting for nothing, Harry became involved in a dangerous lifestyle; a lifestyle in which more value is placed upon drugs and money than on human life.

“Harry did not deserve the punishment meted out to him that night and his violent death has had a devastating impact on the family and friends he leaves behind.

“Our thoughts remain with them as they now wait to find out the sentences Harry’s killers will receive, and begin to contemplate rebuilding their lives without him.”