The two teenage robbers who stabbed a City lawyer to death for his mobile telephone were jailed for life yesterday at the Old Bailey. Donnel Carty, 19, and Delano Brown, 18, showed no emotion as they were told that they were remorseless killers who had devastated the lives of the fiancée, family and friends of their victim, Thomas ap Rhys Pryce, 31.

Mr Justice Aikens said Carty would serve a minimum of 21 years and Brown would not be considered for release until he had served 17 years in prison. The pair, members of a violent gang of hooded robbers who terrorised northwest London, were also given concurrent jail terms of up to four years for conspiracy to rob, wounding, grievous bodily harm and robbery.

Clasping the hands of her mother, Vicky Chamberlain, Adele Eastman, 32, twice broke down in tears as Richard Horwell, QC, for the prosecution, read out her victim statement before sentencing. In stark contrast to the weeping relatives and friends of the dead Cambridge graduate sitting in the public gallery, Carty stared straight ahead while Brown buried his face in his zip-up sweater.

Only once did Miss Eastman, a lawyer at Farrer & Co, the solicitors used by the Royal Family, exchange a glance with one of the killers. Sitting just 10ft away from her, the pair momentarily looked at each other before sentencing.

Carty and Brown had stabbed Mr ap Rhys Pryce through the heart after robbing him of his mobile phone, bank and travel cards and £20 as he walked to his home in Kensal Green on January 12. The lawyer also suffered a stab wound to his leg and slash marks to his face and hands as he tried to defend himself.

He bled to death yards from his home surrounded by bloodstained print-outs of possible venues for his planned wedding in September in Tuscany.

The judge that said while it was not clear who wielded the knife, both men were equally responsible. “Mr ap Rhys Pryce had the grave misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was true to his nature. He was not going to let two youths rob him in the street where he lived. He was stabbed with a knife.

“With having the courage to resist he paid with his life. That has caused immense suffering. You have shown no remorse as yet. I can only hope that in the future you will have some glimpse of how dreadful your crime was and the suffering you have caused.”

Judge Atkin told Carty: “I am not satisfied that you were particularly the ringleader. I take in account the fact that you had no significant previous convictions. I also take into account my concern that I can’t be sure the two stab wounds were intended to kill Mr Ap Rhys-Pryce.

To Brown he said: “It is plain from your own evidence that you are in fact an intelligent young man. You left school with GCSEs and went to college where you qualified to teach sports to children.”

He added: “I accept in your case I can’t be sure that there was an intention to kill.”

It emerged that Carty was obsessed with the gangland world and with hip-hop music and had recorded a rap song in which he boasted of his willingness to kill.

It emerged yesterday that a few weeks before the murder Carty had been arrested after being part of a gang that mugged a 34-year-old woman in Paddington. She was hurled to the ground, kicked and robbed of her handbag by four youths. Police caught Carty fleeing the scene, but the case was dropped because the victim could not identify him as a gang member.

Detectives also discovered that Brown had hoarded press cuttings of Mr ap Rhys Pryce.

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