The teenagers who beat and stabbed 14-year-old Justin Peter Vasey behind an abandoned Guildford party house have been given sentences ranging from four-and-a-half to five years in jail for manslaughter.

Vasey, a Grade 8 student at Enver Creek Secondary in Surrey, was found dead outside the single storey house in the 14200 block of 104 Avenue on Feb. 25, 2008.

Police said the gutted, graffiti-covered house was used by youths and others to party in, and there were reports of teens being there as late as 5 or 6 p.m. that evening.

Vasey had just made friends with the three teens, two girls aged 15 and 16 and a boy aged 17, one to two weeks before his death.

"Justin was a 14-year-old boy who was trying to meet new friends," Cpl. Dale Carr, spokesperson for the regional Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said in June of last year after the three teens and one adult were charged.

"He thought he was partying with those new friends when things went terribly wrong. What started with a punching match progressed to a very serious assault and then a stabbing."

The teens were originally charged with second degree murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in July.

The adult was only charged with manslaughter.

All have been held in custody since their arrest.

The Surrey Provincial Court judge who imposed the sentences on Thursday said the three young offenders should serve as much time as possible in a youth correctional facility before they are transferred to adult jail.

Because they were sentenced as adults, the teenagers will lose the protection of the Youth Criminal Justice Act that forbids naming young offenders in press reports.

However, because they have 30 days in which to appeal their sentences, their names cannot not be disclosed until that period has expired at the end of November.

The adult arrested in the case, Vancouver resident Cody Allen Pelletier, will be sentenced for manslaughter on Nov. 16 in Surrey.

At the time Vasey's body was discovered, there was speculation that bullying may have played a role in his death, but that was later ruled out by investigators who said none of the four accused people attended a Surrey school.

Mounties were initially sent to the Guildford neighbourhood at around 6:10 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2008 to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

The first officers didn't see anything at the address given to dispatchers, but a patrol of the area discovered Pelletier lying unconscious in a yard a couple of blocks from the initial call.

Officers later returned to the original address and found Vasey's body behind the abandoned single-storey home.

dferguson@surreyleader.com