Banning the media from reporting the identity of a 15-year-old murderer will not deter young people from committing crimes, the family of Owen Dunn has said.

Mr Dunn's family issued a statement after a judge refused the media's request to lift reporting restrictions and identify the 15-year-old.

A jury found Tyler Hunt 18, and an unnamed 15-year-old guilty of stabbing Owen to death on December 4, 2022, following a trial in December.

The pair were then given life sentences with a minimum term of 19 and 12 years behind bars respectively during a sentencing hearing last week.

After this time has elapsed, both Hunt and the 15-year-old will be eligible to apply for parole and could be released.

The time they have spent in custody on remand since being arrested will also be taken off the end of their sentences.

A spokesperson said on behalf of Owen's family: “We feel like Wiltshire Police have delivered what they promised. They worked hard, they gathered evidence, and they got the two people who killed Owen convicted of murder.

“But we do not think that the judge has done enough. She chose those sentences, and she chose not to allow the 15-year-old to be named and we just do not think it will deter youngsters from committing these crimes because it feels like they have been thought more of as victims than Owen, or his family and friends.

“We have this sentence of life with Owen because we will never see him again, but the 15-year-old will likely be out when they are 25 and they will be able to have a life, start a family, work, whatever they want to do, how is that fair?"

As is routine, earlier in the court process the judge had made an order under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, which prevented publication of the youth's identity.

It applies to all media organisations and members of the public too, for example on social media.

Those who breach an order under section 45 are liable to criminal prosecution and if convicted, face an unlimited fine.

But ahead of sentencing, two applications were made by the media in a bid to overturn the reporting restrictions, one by the Swindon Advertiser and South West News Service, and a second by the BBC.

Despite both arguing that lifting this restriction was in the public interest, they were turned down by the judge.