Gang of TEN teenagers who murdered 18-year-old jailed for 124 years

2022-08-05

Gang of TEN teenagers who murdered 18-year-old are jailed for 124 years: Pack aged 14-17 chased boy and stabbed him to death with a Rambo knife ‘for the excitement of hurting an innocent and randomly selected stranger’

Jack Woodley fatally stabbed after being ‘surrounded and isolated’ by a gang who chased him down an alley
He had been due to start a job the Monday after he was attacked and was on way to pick up keys for a new flat
Prosecutors said the group had gone out ‘looking for serious trouble that day’ and tried to ‘create conflict’
Judge said they’d shown ‘regret’, but ‘regret is not remorse’ as he gave minimum terms adding up to 124 years

Ten teenagers who murdered an 18-year-old ‘solely for excitement and pleasure’ after attacking him at random as he walked home from a funfair were today sentenced to life.

Jack Woodley was fatally stabbed after being ‘surrounded and isolated’ by a gang of youths who chased him down an alleyway in Houghton le Spring, Sunderland, last year.

The victim, who had been due to start a job the Monday after he was attacked and was on the way to pick up keys for a new flat, was punched, kicked, stamped on, and stabbed with a 25cm ‘Rambo style’ knife during the attack on October 16.

Prosecutors said the group had gone out ‘looking for serious trouble that day’ and tried to ‘create conflict’ with Mr Woodley at the festival as they ‘looked for any excuse to attack someone’.

One of the teenagers first put Mr Woodley in a headlock and punched him, before the others ‘joined in’, the court heard. Jurors were told one of them was heard shouting ‘get the chopper’ – referring to the knife – in mobile phone footage of the incident.

Today, the 15-year-old who inflicted the fatal wound by stabbing Mr Woodley in the back was detained for a minimum of 17 years.

Judge Rodney Jameson QC sentenced the other nine defendants, aged between 14 and 18, to minimum terms of between eight and 15 years’ detention. He told them that if they are then released, they will remain on licence for the rest of their lives. He said they had shown ‘regret’, but ‘regret is not remorse’.

The total minimum terms for all the defendants adds up to 124 years and six months.

Jack Woodley was fatally stabbed after being ‘surrounded and isolated’ by a gang of youths who chased him down an alleyway in Houghton le Spring, Sunderland, last year

Today’s sentencing was delayed due to a disturbance outside Newcastle Crown Court which led to police being called

Nine of the youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied murder and manslaughter.

One pleaded guilty to manslaughter, admitting he stabbed Mr Woodley but denying he intended to kill him, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Mark McKone QC had told jurors that Jack and the gang of youths had been at the funfair all evening, before the attack took place outside of The Britannia Inn pub in Houghton.

Mr McKone said: ‘The attack took place outside the pub but the group also chased Jack down an alleyway at the side of the pub. Many people in the pub saw the attack.’

At the start of the trial in March, prosecutor Mark McKone QC said that while only one youth stabbed Mr Woodley, the other nine were guilty due to ‘the concept of joint enterprise’.

Devastated mother Zoe McGill, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, with her husband, Chris

A jury convicted all 10 defendants of murder in June.

Nine of them intend to appeal against their convictions, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed this week.

Sentencing the group, the judge said: ‘No sentence can restore Jack to his family and loved ones, or reduce the pain they will endure now and in the future.

‘It may seem unfair that you will be able to live at liberty while still young men, while Jack cannot because of what you did.’

Judge Jameson said the group had attacked Mr Woodley ‘solely for the excitement and pleasure of inflicting serious injury on an entirely innocent and randomly selected stranger’.

The judge told the defendants the violence inflicted on Mr Woodley ‘though short-lived, was appalling’ and all of them ‘played a part in causing Jack’s death’.

He said six of the teenagers had given evidence during the trial, but none ‘was prepared to tell the truth about what the others did’.

He told them: ‘You decided to put the interests of yourself and your co-defendants before those of Jack and his family. You did everything you could to deny them justice.

‘I’m sure you do regret what happened for many reasons, but regret is not remorse.’

Judge Jameson told the teenager who stabbed Mr Woodley: ‘I have concluded that you intended to kill when you inflicted the second stab wound. I accept that intention may have been formed in the heat of the moment.

‘It is, however, that sort of escalation that can occur when violence is carried out mob-handed and when armed with a deadly knife.’

During the trial, Mr McKone said Mr Woodley was leaving the Houghton Feast funfair when the defendants, who he did not know, ‘surrounded and isolated’ him.

Jack, who had been due to start a job the Monday after he was attacked and was on the way to pick up keys for a new flat, was punched, kicked, stamped on, and stabbed with a 25cm ‘Rambo style’ knife during the attack on October 16

The teenager is survived by his father, John Woodley, mother Zoey McGill, stepfather Chris McGill and siblings Jayden, Jenson and Tyler.

Speaking during an earlier court hearing this week, Zoe said the whole family would be ‘forever haunted about how horrific Jack’s injuries were’.

Ms McGill said that Jack had been looking forward to the future, and she added: ‘This has ruined our family’s lives and life will never be the same again without Jack.’

In an earlier statement, she told the court: ‘Jack was my reason to live and succeed in life. From the moment Jack was born he brought light and love to us all.

Supporters gathered outside Newcastle Crown Court today which a banner that read ‘Justice 4 Jack. Life for a knife’

‘In the months before October, Jack had sat and passed his English and Math Level 3, CSCS Operatives Card, Forklift Truck License and had secured a job with Amazon which he was due to start the Monday after his death.

‘Jack had also secured his own accommodation and had received the keys for this on the day he was attacked. We were all very proud of Jack and this should have been a very exciting time in his life.

‘The devastation of losing Jack is immense and far reaching. The trauma of reliving this whole incident over a long trial has had a devastating effect us all. We cannot see a way of recovering from this.

‘We feel imprisoned by our grief and trauma. No parent, loved one or friend should suffer someone going to a fair and them forever.

‘We will never be able to share treasured family moments with our cheeky chappy blue-eyed boy ever again.’

Source: Read Full Article