FIVE schoolboys were cleared of manslaughter today after a barrister admitted there was no reasonable chance of convicting them of killing a 13-year-old boy.

The teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been accused of kicking and punching Deividas Strizegauskas to death outside his school in east London.

His alleged attackers were Asian and Deividas was friends with a gang of Somalian boys who had been warring with them.

The boys, one of whom is from Gravesend, were cleared of murder but an Old Bailey jury could not agree on lesser charges of manslaughter, which were dropped today.

A further two teenagers walked free in February after a previous trial collapsed when a key witness refused to give evidence.

At the Old Bailey today, prosecutor Sir Allan Green said: "These are anxious matters, serious matters, and we have given them great attention.

"We have examined the evidence and come to the conclusion a conviction in this case is not more likely than not.

"In the circumstances we propose to offer no evidence and not seek a retrial."

Members of the jury had deliberated for almost 30 hours before admitting they were deadlocked.

Lithuanian Deividas, who was a pupil at Brampton Manor school in Upton Park, died of brain injuries following a brawl on April 27 last year.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of his death was a blow to the side of the face which caused his head to jerk suddenly, rupturing an artery at the base of the brain.

The five Asian boys are 15 and 16 are from Gravesend, east London, Westgate-on-Sea in Kent, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire and Birmingham.

They had all denied the charges against them.

The two other teenagers who walked free after the first trial collapsed were a 15-year-old from Chatham and a 16-year-old from Lancashire.