Five young people have been jailed for between three and seven a half years for their roles in the manslaughter of Dale Creighton in Dublin.

The 20-year-old was beaten to death on a footbridge in Tallaght in the early hours of New Years Day 2014.

They went on trial for his murder last year but the DPP accepted their pleas to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy said she was satisfied the people before her were not evil and were not even bad people, but she said rough justice is no justice and no one is entitled to take the law into their own hands.

She said Dale Creighton was “mercilessly kicked and beaten” after being chased on suspicion of mugging one of the accused and stealing her phone.

Five of the seven originally accused of his murder pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced this afternoon.

David Burke of Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath was handed the longest sentence at seven and a half years.

Jason Beresford of Castledermot, Co Kildare was jailed for six years - so too was Ross Callery of Gortlum Cottages, Brittas, Co Dublin.

Graham Palmer of Park Avenue, Portarlington, Co Laois got five years, and Gerard Stevens of Grosvenor Square in Rathmines in Dublin was jailed for three.

Two others were sentenced in relation to charges arising from the investigation into Dale Creighton’s death.

Aisling Burke, a 20-year-old single mother with an address at Beechpark in Collinstown, Co. Westmeath was jailed for one year for violent disorder.

26-year-old James Reid Glen Aoibhinn, Gorey, Co Wexford received a fully suspended sentence after admitting having a knife on the footbridge.

Helena Darcy, a family friend of the Creightons, said they were not happy with the sentences handed down.

"While we appreciate the difficulty Judge Murphy had in sentencing these individuals, we as a family consider them to be too lenient," she said.