They hit out after the trio were found guilty of a frenzied knife attack on 16-year-old Ben, brother of ex-EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella.

Chased ... victim Ben Kinsella

The innocent lad was stabbed ELEVEN times in FIVE seconds after being chased and beaten to the ground near a bar.

Brooke burst into tears as brutal Michael Alleyne, 18, Juress Kika, 19, and Jade Braithwaite, 20, were convicted after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.

And along with mum Debbie and dad George, she blasted Britain's "soft" justice system and the total lack of remorse shown by the swaggering killers. George described the trio as "animals, scum, cowards".

The family's despair was fuelled by revelations that:

KIKA was a fugitive wanted by cops over the near-fatal stabbing of a young man ten days before Ben was killed.

ALLEYNE had been let out of jail three months before Ben's murder.

He was under the supervision of a council's youth offending team after serving half of an 18-month detention order for dealing heroin and crack cocaine.

BRAITHWAITE was freed from prison in 2007 after a 12-month stretch for robbing a teenager was quashed on appeal and replaced with a community order.

Police said Ben was killed for no reason other than "ignorance".

Det Chief Insp John Macdonald, who led the murder probe, added: "Ben was an entirely innocent person. Unfortunately, he ran into three young cowards who were older and bigger than him.

"Why do people get involved in such serious violence? Ignorance, pure ignorance."

Brooke, 25, who played Kelly Taylor in EastEnders, said: "It proves they're not learning anything in prison. They go in, play on the computer, mix with friends, learn new criminal skills and come out one step up the ladder."

She hugged and kissed her parents as the verdict was announced. She also embraced sisters Jade, 23, Holly, 23, Georgia, 15, and brother Christopher, 26.

The actress launched a campaign after Ben's death, begging youths to lay down their blades.

And The Sun produced anti-knife crime badges bearing a 'K' symbol designed by Ben, who was aware of the growing menace and tried to do something about it.

The Kinsellas wore them outside the Old Bailey yesterday.

And George said: "How many more families will have to stand here to get justice for their children? Our son's only crime was to be the last to run away from those animals.

"Knife crime is now sadly embedded in the very heart of Britain, running the lives of gangs and feral youths. Parents live in fear until their children are safely home.

"It can happen over the wrong word, the wrong look or the wrong postcode. In Ben's case, it was nothing to do with him at all.

"We are happy with the verdicts and really hope the sentence will reflect the brutality inflicted upon our son."

The killers face life when they are sentenced today.

Brooke said she was "praying" for a lengthy sentence. She hoped the judge would take into account the public outcry over knife crime triggered by Ben's stabbing.

She added:"I just pray to God that the judge looks at what the country has stood up and done. I hope he realises the mark that Ben has made and how everyone is crying out. The sentence has to be long - 15 years won't be enough."

George, 49, said: "If I had my way I'd bring back the death penalty. I've got no qualms about that."

He compared the murder to the slaughter of two French students by psycho Dano Sonnex - on probation at the time.

The killings happened on the same day in June last year. George said the present justice system "doesn't work".

He added: "If they keep giving these people early release and a pat on the head before sending them back out, we'll be back here again."

Arsenal fan Ben, who once appeared in ITV1's The Bill, was enjoying a peaceful drink at Shillibeers bar in Islington, North London, when trouble erupted.

Braithwaite claimed he had been "disrespected" by a lad in the bar - and summoned pals Alleyne and Kika by mobile phone.

A fight involving 30 youths, not including Ben, broke out and spilled on to the street.

It broke up. But Braithwaite, Alleyne and Kika - all known drug dealers - regrouped and armed themselves with at least two knives. They spotted Ben and his mates walking to get a taxi.

After a short chase captured on CCTV Ben, who was at the back of the group, was cornered on his own. He told the killers: "Why are you coming over to me for? I haven't done anything wrong."

But he was battered to the ground and repeatedly stabbed.

Afterwards he managed to stagger 100 yards before collapsing into the arms of his friend Louis.

He is the son of Birds of a Feather actress Linda Robson, who was at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Jurors in the court wept as Ben's 46-year-old mum read an emotional impact statement, describing her son as a "happy-go-lucky boy with a heart of gold".

She said: "Our whole world has been turned upside down. Ben went for a good night out and never came home.

"The people who murdered him knew nothing about our Ben - not a hair on his head, a bone in his body, not anything about our wonderful son. They had never met him before or spoken to him. They just cruelly took his life away with knives for no apparent reason."

In an interview with The Sun, Debbie branded the killers "evil".

She said: "I will hate them until the day I die. They don't know what has been taken from us."

The Kinsellas were mobbed by more than 30 supporters shouting "Justice" after the verdict.

Alleyne was being supervised by Islington Council.

It said he was "required to attend meetings" with a youth offending team. But he was not subject to a curfew or tagged.

Police never recovered the knives used to kill Ben, but believe they were put down a drain.