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Surrounded and preyed upon by a pack of ten bloodthirsty teenagers, Jack Woodley never stood a chance as he curled up on the ground and braced himself for a frenzied attack as he walked home from the funfair.
Punched, kicked, stamped upon and fatally wounded with a Rambo knife, the 5ft 7in, 10st 8lb victim was completely defenceless as the vicious gang murdered him ‘like zombies attacking an animal’ in front of horrified onlookers on October 16 2021.
Jack’s grieving mother, Zoey McGill, previously released a heartbreaking video of herself cradling her dying son and singing to him in his final moments while he was on life support. He tragically died in hospital a day after the attack.
The unarmed 18-year-old, from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, had done nothing to provoke the killers, only coming to the group’s attention by chance when a random row broke out over a girl kissing a boy at the funfair.
For four years, most of the teenagers, aged between 14 and 17 at the time of the sickening attack, have been protected by a reporting restriction banning their identity from being revealed until their 18th birthdays.
But on Wednesday, Lewis Rose, the youngest of the ten murderers, became an adult, paving the way for the twisted mob to finally be unmasked as one. Their mugshots were finally released, allowing the public to see the faces of evil.
Rose, Calum Maddison, Sonny Smith, Leighton Mayo, Blaine Sewell, Grant Wheatley, Clayton Owen, Joe Lathan, Tyler Brewis and Rhys Wear, were the boys handed life sentences with a combined minimum term of more than 124 years.
Tragically, it was these 10 animals against one. Jack was hunted down and stabbed in the back during an 80-second attack while making his way home from the Houghton Feast funfair, in Houghton-le-Spring near Sunderland.
It was Maddison, who had recently turned 15, who delivered the fatal stab wound, but all ten were convicted of Jack’s murder under the principle of joint enterprise as they were deemed to be equally responsible.
Most of the boys lied to police in a desperate bid to deflect their involvement. Yet none of them even attempted to suggest Jack had provoked the savage assault that has plunged his family into unimaginable grief.
As one of the boys’ lawyers suggested, it would have been easy for the 10-strong group to pin the blame on Jack as being the aggressor. But the truth was, he simply did nothing wrong that night.
He had simply gone to the Houghton Feast funfair with friends when the atmosphere became hostile.
Jack was challenged to a fight by a stranger, but sensibly walked away thinking better of it.
But as he neared the crowded Britannia Inn, then 16-year-old Sewell ran up and punched him and seized him in a headlock, triggering a terrifying ten on one melee before Maddison plunged his 9in (25cm) knife into Jack’s back.
He was left to die in an alleyway and tragically died in hospital the following day – his life cut short by a random ‘mob attack’.
The 11-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard he was targeted for a ‘trivial reason’ – something not one of the 10 defendants ever explained.
Jack’s family were forced to sit through weeks of evidence and recounting their son’s brutal death – but have been left no nearer to understanding why he was targeted.
During one moment in the trial, the 16-year-old who attacked Jack from behind, triggering scenes of anarchy, was asked by prosecutors: ‘Why did you attack Jack?’
‘I can’t remember’, he replied in a final insult to his victim and Jack’s family.
Had he seen Jack ‘do anything wrong?’ ‘No,’ he replied.
The teenager said he did not know if there was a reason Jack was attacked but that there probably was one that he couldn’t remember.
When asked if he was angry, the boy said: ‘A little bit yeah. I must have been to actually hit him.’
Pressed why he was angry, he reverted to being unable to remember. So asked again why he attacked Jack, he said: ‘I just can’t remember.’
Quizzed by prosecutors how it could have been forgotten after just a few months, he said: ‘Dunno. It just went out my head, I can’t remember it.’
The boy’s lack of memory was described as ‘particularly chilling’ by prosecutor Mark McKone QC.
Jack had only come to the group’s attention by chance. The trial heard how when a girl kissed a boy, the boy’s ex-girlfriend kicked off and a minor scuffle broke out between the pair.
Jack witnesses the girls fighting and asked another boy – one of his would-be killers – what it was about. They joked about it and went their separate ways.
Less than an hour later, that boy would be part of the gang who so brutally set upon Jack.
Rumours spread that Jack had threatened to ‘punch the head in’ of one of the boys – lie that had been completely fabricated.
This, in the eyes of the prosecutors, was their plot to ‘create a conflict with Jack so they could attack him’.
When challenged to a one-on-one fight, Jack sensibly decided to walk off.
But he was followed and set upon by the bloodthirsty gang. Mobile phone footage of the attack showed there were shouts of ‘get the chopper out’ – referring to the knife – heard.
One of the mob was ‘armed with a very dangerous knife’, while another admitted taking a knuckle duster out that night.
One witness said the youths were like a ‘herd of lions’ when they attacked.
Another witness who saw the violence said: ‘Jack got down on the floor so he could curl up in a ball.
‘He was so scared. There were so many punches raining down on him. They were brutal.
‘Everyone in the group was just kicking the life out of Jack, stamping on his head
‘The lads were savagely kicking Jack, like zombies attacking an animal.
‘I remember the terrified look on Jack’s face as he was being kicked, punched and stamped on.’
For all the brutality that led to the death of an 18-year-old boy, none of the 10 killers could say why they did what they did that night.
Most said they could not remember or said it happened too fast. The incident lasted around 80 seconds and there was only a small amount of CCTV and mobile footage.
Questions were asked over why so many of the boys had their hoods up. One claimed it was because he felt anxious about his hair.
But the main element to dissect was why the teenage knifeman – who admitted the stabbing but denied intent – was armed.
Jurors were told he had bought it six months prior out of fear of living in a city plagued with knife crime. He wanted it to be a deterrent.
But on that night, he hadn’t taken it out with him. In fact, he went home to get the knife just 20 minutes before launching a fatal attack on Jack.
He claimed he’d gone home to get his coat because it was cold – and decided at the last minute to take the knife back out due to the supposed trouble brewing.
Ultimately, he would go on to use it to murder Jack Woodley. He would stand trial alongside nine others – despite claiming they were not responsible for Jack’s death.
While Jack suffered multiple injuries as he lay helpless on the floor, he was killed by the single knife wound.
The nine others were charged as the prosecution argued the fatal blow would not have been delivered if the other members hadn’t launched the frenzied attack.
By targeting Jack outside the Britannia Inn, each of them contributed to the killing even if their involvement was less than the other.
‘The prosecution say all ten defendants participated in this joint attack, using violence themselves or intentionally encouraging others to use violence,’ Mr McKone QC said.
The reason, argued by the prosecution, for Jack’s death was that this was simply a gang of boys wanting to inflict harm on an individual.
In a heartbreaking tribute, Jack’s mother, Zoey McGill, said: ‘Jack was my reason to live and succeed in life. From the moment Jack was born he brought light and love to us all.
‘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 on 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 losing them forever. We will never be able to share treasured family moments with our cheeky chappy blue-eyed boy ever again.’
