The Northern Echo looks back at some of people who have been locked up for murder or manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court since the start of the year.
Among those convicted are a man who stabbed his estranged wife to death, a thug who attacked a man over a small debt, sibling rivalry ended in stabbing, and a drunken driver.
HARRY TURNER
The estranged husband who stabbed Sally Turner 68 times in her daughter’s home has been locked up after he launched the brutal attack when he became ‘obsessed’ with her sexual activity.
Harry Turner was branded ‘selfish’ for the sustained attack on his wife after he learned she was having an affair with a taxi driver.
The 50-year-old suffered a catalogue of injuries in the sustained assault with Turner having to use a second knife after damaging the blade of a kitchen knife due to the ferocity of the attack.
Mrs Turner was described as a loving grandmother as Judge James Adkin sentenced the 54-year-old postal worker to life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years and 120 days.
Jurors had heard how Turner admitted attacking his wife on June 22 last year but denied murder as he had no recollection of carrying out the fatal assault.
The judge said: “You had launched a brutal attack on her, stabbing her with a large kitchen knife until that broke and then going back to the kitchen, selecting another knife and continuing to attack her."
RAYMOND WHINCUP
A mother spoke of her heartbreak as Mark Robinson's killer was locked up for ten years.
Mark Robinson died more than a year after he suffered a brutal beating at the hands of Raymond Whincup over a row about a £20 debt.
The 40-year-old suffered catastrophic head injuries when he was knocked unconscious while he was staying in a friend’s flat in Redcar.
Whincup was heavily intoxicated when he attacked Mr Robinson in the early hours of July 28, 2020, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Robinson’s family said: “Regardless of the indictment we all know that had it not been for the medical treatment Mark received on 28th July 2020, he would have died that morning in Station Road having suffered traumatic brain injury because of a vicious, sustained and unprovoked assault from Raymond Whincup."
A medical expert told jurors how Mr Robinson had suffered two fractures to his jaw, two fractures to bones in his spinal column and three broken ribs.
He was visiting Mr Gregory at his flat when Whincup and Lewis Skelton turned up before the three of them headed up the accused’s upstairs flat to spend their time drinking.
But Whincup left to go downstairs and when Mr Gregory returned to his downstairs flat, he found Mr Robinson lying injured on the floor.
Another witness Lewis Skelton, who has since died, told his mother that Whincup had ‘knocked out’ Mr Robinson before they fled the scene together.
Mr Robinson never fully recovered from his injuries and died in August 2021.
INDERJIT KLARE
A sibling rivalry which occasionally descended into violence came to a catastrophic conclusion when a drink and drug fuelled brawl ended with a fatal stabbing.
Inderjit Klare stabbed his younger brother several times with a kitchen knife and left him to bleed to death on the floor of their family-owned fish and chip shop.
The 43-year-old disgraced pharmacist, of Eve Lane, Spennymoor, severed an artery in Jasreet Klare’s right arm when he plunged the knife straight through his arm as he attempted to defend himself.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Inderjit waited for 90 minutes before calling the emergency services and by the time they arrived he had bled to death – an outcome which could have been prevented with basic first aid.
Jurors convicted him of murdering his 40-year-old brother in the early hours of October 9 last year in the family-owned fish and chip shop on Tenters Street, Bishop Auckland.
He said: “It is reasonable to conclude that the fatal injury was inflicted early in the attack that injury was not in an area which would usually lead to death.
“The later injuries were not life-threatening in themselves and it does not appear that those injuries were inflicted to cause anything other than serious injury.
“On the other hand, the persistence of your attack aggravates the seriousness of this offence and I cannot overlook the failure to do anything to save your brother’s life."
JAMES HOBSON
A ‘blind drunk’ driver whose car burst into flames when he killed a taxi driver in a high-speed crash has been locked up.
James Hobson had downed up to ten pints of lager and eight shots of tequila before stumbling out of the pub and climbing behind the wheel of his hired Mercedes C-Class when he eventually remembered where he had parked it.
The 33-year-old transport company owner reached speeds in excess of 100mph as he attempted to lose a pursuing police vehicle by undertaking cars and driving through red lights after leaving the Highfield pub.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Hobson was driving on the wrong side of the road when he smashed into a taxi driven by Malik Ameer Abbas.
The 27-year-old from Middlesbrough died after a late-night crash on the A172 at Dixons Bank, on March 29 last year.
The court heard how Hobson had racked up a bar bill of £116 before driving at dangerously high speed whilst on a Facetime call to his partner.
The Recorder of Middlesbrough Paul Watson KC told Hobson his driving was ‘some of the worst’ he had seen in recent years.
“You are a 33-year-old with two convictions for driving with excess alcohol, as a result of one of those incidents, you wrapped a car around a lamppost – it may have been a long time ago but you didn’t learn your lesson,” he said.
Hobson was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.
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