Tragic Aimee Wellock would not have died when she did if she and her friends had not been subjected to an unprovoked attack by three teenage girls, top judges ruled.

But the judges at London's Court of Appeal decided that was not sufficient to convict Claire Carey, now 19, and two girls, aged 17 and 15, of manslaughter.

The court yesterday quashed the trio's convictions for manslaughter, but upheld their convictions for affray, following Aimee's death in June last year.

The court ruled Carey's two-year youth custody order should remain, but halved a detention order for the 17-year-old to 12 months and imposed a three-year supervision order, in place of a two-year detention order, on the youngest girl, who is due to give birth early next month.

Giving the ruling yesterday, Lord Justice Dyson said that Aimee and her friends had been subjected to an entirely unprovoked and thoroughly unpleasant attack, accompanied by menace and bullying, at a beauty spot at Chellow Dene, Bradford, in June last year.

The judge said the injuries caused were slight and the attackers did not intend to cause very serious harm, or that Aimee should die.

But he added: "No doubt, but for the affray, Aimee would not have died when she did.

"It is understandable that Aimee's family in particular, but no doubt others too, should think that the appellants are responsible for Aimee's death. In a sense they are.

"But that is not sufficient to make them guilty of manslaughter."

The judge said a punch to Aimee's face by the 15-year-old girl was a dangerous, unlawful act and if she had fallen against a hard surface and suffered an injury from which she had died then her attacker would have been guilty of manslaughter.

But he said the punch did not cause her death and other acts and threats of violence during the affray were not dangerous and therefore the appellants were not guilty of manslaughter.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Telegraph & Argus, the judges' decision was greeted with anger by Aimee's parents Alan and Jackie Wellock, of Canford Drive, Allerton.

In a statement the couple said: "Following the traumatic circumstances surrounding our daughter's death, over the past few months our family and friends have been able to draw some comfort from the faith which we had placed in our judicial system. How misplaced could this faith have been.

"We leave court feeling angry and completely let down by those whose job is to protect us.

"Most importantly, we feel that we have all let Aimee and her friends down."

Their statement went on: "As with many people, we believed that justice was aimed at searching for the truth and punishing those responsible for their crimes.

"However, from our experiences we now believe that this is not the case and, as a result, our society is a more dangerous place as a consequence.

"Emotionally, the events of today have crushed us.

"As we have said previously, we brought Aimee up to put her faith in all the professional people who surrounded her young life, doctors, teachers, police and the law. As her parents, we know that she would have been devastated by today's result.

"It would seem that the law is on the side of the perpetrator rather than the victim."

Carey, a mother-of-one, of Allerton Grange Drive, Allerton, Bradford, and the 17-year-old girl are serving their sentences at young-offender institutions.