A gang of boys who stabbed a teenager to death with a Rambo-style knife can today be named and pictured for the first time.
Jack Woodley was 18 when he was murdered by the 10 young killers, who were aged from 14-17 at the time of the sickening attack in October 2021.
Judge Rodney Jameson made reporting restrictions banning the identity of each killer being published until they reached the age of 18.
The youngest of the 10, Lewis Rose, became an adult yesterday. The identities of Tyler Brewis, 18, and Rhys Wear, 18, have also now been revealed.
Jack was ‘surrounded and isolated’ by the mob – all strangers to him – and stabbed in the back ‘like zombies attacking an animal’, after they followed him from a funfair and chased him down an alleyway in Houghton le Spring, Sunderland.
They punched, kicked, stamped on and fatally stabbed Jack with a 25cm blade ‘solely for the excitement and pleasure of inflicting serious injury on an entirely innocent and randomly selected stranger’.
The sickening onslaught, which was recorded on a mobile phone, saw the attackers form a ring around defenceless Jack, making it impossible for his friends to help him.
The teenager, from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, was taken to hospital but nothing could be done to save his life and he passed away the next day.
The boys were convicted of murdering Jack following a long trial at Newcastle Crown Court. They were all handed life sentences, with minimum terms of between eight and 17 years’ detention and a total of 124 years between them.
Each of the killers went on to challenge their conviction at the Court of Appeal in London. However their bids were dismissed by top judges.
Seven of the gang were named in 2023 following a legal challenge by the Northern Echo.
The other members were Grant Wheatley, Clayton Owen, Sonny Smith, Joe Lathan, Leighton Mayo, Blaine Sewell and Calum Maddison, who was 15 at the time and inflicted the fatal wound.
Jack and the 10 defendants had been to the Houghton Feast festival on the day of the killing.
At the time of the trial, the court was told how one of the defendants first attacked Mr Woodley, and the others ‘joined in’.
One of them was heard shouting ‘get the chopper’ – referring to the knife – in mobile phone footage of the incident.
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.’
Jurors were told a female witness had gone to one of the teenagers’ house earlier that day, where he had showed her ‘a machete style knife’ and told her he had previously stabbed two people with it.
It was heard in court she met up with him again an hour later, and four of his male friends, who talked about him ‘being in a gang’ and ‘discussed how they were going to find someone tonight at the feast’.
She told police the group had ‘seemed quite excited’.
The parents of Jack had paid tribute to him following the verdicts.
His 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.’
Prosecutor Mark McKone said while only one youth inflicted the fatal stab wound, the other nine were guilty due to ‘the concept of joint enterprise’.
He added: ‘What each defendant did to Jack varies, some used more serious violence than others.
‘But the prosecution say this was classic joint enterprise, where a group acted together for the common purpose of causing really serious injury to Jack.
‘The prosecution say all 10 defendants participated in this joint attack, using violence themselves or intentionally encouraging others to use violence.
‘To be guilty of murder, a defendant must intent that a victim is killed or intend that a victim is caused really serious harm.
‘It follows, that a person can be guilty of murder without intending for someone to be killed.’