A grieving mum has said the fatal stabbing of her beloved boy should serve as a ‘wake-up call’ about the growing danger of gang violence and knife crime among young people.
Zoey McGill said the sickening attack that left 18-year-old Jack Woodley mortally wounded last year could happen to anyone.
The heart-breaking incident, as Jack left the funfair at the Houghton Feast, took place on the evening of October 16.
Read more: Jack Woodley murder: Mum's heartbreak as Aycliffe teen's killers jailed
A large group of boys, aged 14-17, started a fight with him under false pretences before an attack by one boy led to a frenzy of violence with the group kicking, punching and stamping on the defenceless teenager.
Amid the chaos Jack was stabbed in the back with ‘Rambo-style’ knife.
Read more: Jack Woodley murder: Ten teens are JAILED for minimum of 124 years
He spent the night in the intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with medics fighting for his life.
Zoey, 35, from Newton Aycliffe, said she wanted to share the haunting image of him lying in a hospital bed to raise awareness as part her campaign to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo, Zoey said: “I want people to see this. This is what they did to him.
"They were like a pack of animals and I want to get it out there what they have done and the seriousness of knife crime. Something needs to be done.”
Zoey is also calling for increased security measures at venues like concerts and fairgrounds that attract young people She said: “My other son went to a fair the other night and I was beside myself.
“I did not want him going but you can’t stop them can you?
“I was like ‘ring me’ you know, constantly panicking. I hate it when he goes out.
“They don’t check them before they go in.
“There needs to be more checks done at fairgrounds and big events, metal detectors and things like that.”
Zoey is planning to work with police to tell Jack’s story in schools to make children aware of danger of carrying knives and getting into fights.
She says it was not just the victims, and their family, who suffer, but also the perpetrators, and their loved ones.
Today, all ten defendants in the trial were sentenced to more than 100 years between them.
She said: “People hear about kids being stabbed, and just think ‘oh another kid has been stabbed’ but it means that lots of people’s lives that are over.
“It is happening on our doorstep, it is not just London. It is all over.
“The police have told us that even in schools they have got little hideouts where they hide knives.
“We just cannot continue like this, the way these kids are going on now.
“They are just children, and yet they are able to buy a knife on the street for £25. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
“They can go out of the house and not come back.”
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