The parents of two British students murdered in Florida have
criticised Barack Obama for his lack of compassion over their
son's deaths.

By Paul Thompson in Sarasota
3:00PM BST 29 Mar 2012

His failure to respond to three letters
sent to the White House was because there was no "political value" and
not worthy of a few minutes of his time.They
spoke out as teenager Shawn Tyson began a life sentence after being
found guilty of the murder of James Cooper and James Kouzaris last
April.The 17 year old, who shot the men as they begged for their lives, will die in prison.

His conviction of first degree murder carries an mandatory life sentence without the chance of parole.

The
powerfully built teen even looked bored as emotional DVD presentations
about the dead men prepared by their grieving parents were shown in
court

Tyson, who has the word 'Savage' tattooed across
his chest didn't show a flicker of emotion, slumping in his seat as he
was forced to watch a montage of photos showing the victims from early
childhood to young men.Two close friends of the dead men who had
attended the eight day trial in Sarasota, Florida. had also delivered
highly emotional impact statements to the court prior to the sentencing.Paul Davies and Joe Hallett spoke of the "living hell" they and others who knew the men had suffered since the murders.

During the eight day trial they had been shown graphic crime scene and autopsy photos shown in court.

Later
speaking after Tyson was jailed Davies and Hallett lashed out at Mr
Obama saying the deaths of their friends was "not worthy of ten minutes
of his time."Davies said:"We would like to publicly express our
dissatisfaction at the lack of any public or private message of support
or condolence from any American governing body or indeed, President
Obama himself."Mr Kouzaris has written to President Obama on three separate occasions and is yet to even receive the courtesy of a reply.

"It
would perhaps appear that Mr Obama sees no political value in
facilitating such a request or that the lives of two British tourists
are not worthy of ten minutes of his time."The rebuke follows Mr
Obama's personal intervention into the shooting in Florida of a young
black teenager by a white neighbourhood watch captain.The death
of 17 year old Trayvon Martin has sparked nationwide protests with his
supporters claiming he was victim of a racist attack.Mr Obama entered the controversy last week by saying if he had a son he would have looked like Martin.

The
alleged assailant in Martin's death has not been charged with any crime
having claimed he was attacked first and used Florida's 'stand your
ground' law to shoot in self defence.The criticism of the US
President was made on behalf of the Cooper's parents Stanley and Sandy,
from Warwicks, and Peter and Hazel Kouzaris, from Northampton by Davies
in a statement read outside the courtroom.The parents of the two victims did not attend the trial but they had access to the proceedings from a live video feed.

The filmed interview of the Kouzaris's was played to the court while a message from Sandy Cooper was read out by the prosecutor.

The
victims close friends delivered an emotional impact statement with
Hallett telling Tyson he hoped he would be haunted by his actions.He
told him: "Imagine them being killed. Now try to imagine that they died
because someone creept up on them and shot them numerous times for no
good reason. Welcome to our world. Every night you go to sleep, every
morning you wake up, I want you to think of my friends who you murdered.
Their images will be imprinted on your conscience up until your very
last breath in life."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9173820/Parents-of-murdered-British-students-criticise-Barack-Obama.html