TWO men were jailed for 10 years yesterday for the manslaughter of Lucy Burchell, a teenager who turned to prostitution after watching the ITV series Band of Gold.

Lucy, 16, died after taking an overdose of heroin.

Tahir Khan, 26, from Saltley, Birmingham, and Rungzabe Khan, 25, of Hodge Hill, Birmingham, were both also convicted at the city's Crown Court of supplying heroin to Lucy, and possession with intent to supply.

Mr Justice McKinnon told them: ''You are both, in a real sense, evil young men, actively engaged in the wicked trade of heroin dealing.''

He explained that the conviction for manslaughter was ''by omission'' because they failed to summon medical help for Lucy after she went into a coma.

''You both knew that, but you callously and unlawfully left her in that state, taking no steps at all to summon any help, whether medical or otherwise.

''Not content with that, you dumped the poor girl's body in some undergrowth by a wall by the Tower Ballroom and sought to conceal it.''

The judge said they had both pled guilty to conspiracy to prevent burial of Lucy's body and imposed four-year concurrent terms on both men for that.

He jailed them for five years for manslaughter by omission between August 15 and August 20, 1996.

He sentenced them to four years for supplying a Class A drug to Lucy.

They supplied heroin to Lucy after having brought her to their rented house.

''There, you both supplied her with enough heroin, amounting to some two wraps or more, to kill her if she took it all at once. That's what she did, took it all at once.''

The judge said there was no evidence that they knew she intended to do that, so they had been acquitted of murder on his direction.

The court heard that Lucy, a bright and happy schoolgirl, turned to prostitution after seeing the vice-girl drama Band of Gold on television. Months later she was dead.

She began working the streets of Walsall in the evenings while sitting GCSE exams during the day.

Each night she took a change of clothes to a children's home where a 15-year-old friend was living, and the two then went to a red light area.

She had a pimp, worked from a pitch outside a public house, and in between clients, she would telephone a schoolfriend.

She disappeared on August 15 last year and her body was found five days later on waste ground in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Lucy's brother Craig, a 21-year-old student, later read a statement from their parents Graham and Christine, of Great Wyrley, Staffordshire.

It said: ''We hope that you will all understand that we simply cannot face speaking to the press about the loss of our daughter, Lucy.

''In the 10 months since her death, we have thought of little else and we are still trying to come to terms with what has happened.

''We will never be able to make sense of what has happened and the loss of our daughter will always be with us, every day.

''We know, and Lucy's friends know, that she was a lovely, caring girl and that throughout the police investigation into her death, no-one had a bad word to say about her.

''There is probably little good that can come out of this whole thing. If there is anything, we hope that other youngsters and parents will learn from what has happened to Lucy.''