Jack Woodley: Why was the 18-year-old killed?

Jack Woodley was murdered by a group of 10 teenagers

On 16 October last year, Jack Woodley was killed after a night at a funfair. As 10 youths are found guilty of his murder, we ask why he died.

Jack Woodley had done nothing wrong, even his killers agreed that.

Most of them lied to the police in an attempt to minimise their involvement, but none of them told Newcastle Crown Court 18-year-old Jack had provoked the brutal assault that saw him punched, kicked, stamped upon and stabbed.

It would have been, in the words of one of the boys' lawyers, an easy lie to tell, to attempt to paint the 5ft 7 in tall, 10st 8lb victim as an aggressor and the group, some bigger, some smaller, as unwilling defenders.

But Jack did nothing wrong.

• Ten teens found guilty of 18-year-old's murder

He had gone to the Houghton Feast funfair to enjoy himself with friends, when trouble started brewing - and he was challenged to a fight by a stranger - he walked away.

Prosecutors said he was targeted for a "trivial reason" but not one defendant ever explained what that was.

During the 11-week-long long trial, the hope of finding an answer came when the 16-year-old who attacked Jack from behind, triggering the pile on, gave evidence.

That hope of getting even a meagre explanation was short-lived.

Jack Woodley died in hospital a day after being attacked near the Britannia Inn in Houghton-le-Spring

"Why did you attack Jack?", the smartly dressed defendant was asked by prosecutor Mark McKone QC.

"I can't remember", came the reply.

He was pushed to recall what had happened, for the sake of Jack's family who had sat through weeks of evidence and were still no nearer understanding why he died.

Had the boy seen Jack "do anything wrong"? "No."

Was Jack attacked for a particular reason? The boy didn't know, said he couldn't remember, that there probably was a reason but he couldn't recall what.

Was the boy angry at the time? "A little bit yeah, I must have been to actually hit him."

'Chilling'

What, then, had made him angry? He couldn't remember.

So why then, again, did he attack Jack? "I just can't remember," he said.

How could something so important be forgotten just months afterwards, the prosecutor asked.

"Dunno," the boy replied, adding: "It just went out me head, I can't remember it."

Mr McKone said the boy's memory, or rather lack of it, was "particularly chilling".

Jack Woodley had done nothing wrong, Newcastle Crown Court heard

The teenager was far from the only forgetful defendant. Most, when pushed for details, said they could not remember what occurred or who did what and claimed it had all happened too fast to do so.

The court has spent weeks attempting to dissect events that lasted about 80 seconds, of which there was only fragmentary CCTV and mobile phone footage.

But there were some big questions for the jury to try and answer.

Why did so many of the youths have their hoods up? To conceal their identities knowing they were committing serious criminal acts, or simply because it was a chilly October evening?

One claimed it was because he had anxiety about his hair.

The main questions revolved around the 15-year-old with the knife, who admitted the stabbing but denied it was intentional.

Why did he even possess such a menacing weapon?

One of the 10 defendants admitted stabbing Jack Woodley with a 9in (25cm) knife

He had bought it six months previously when living in a city with a knife-crime problem and hanging out with other armed youths, jurors were told.

He hoped it looked scary enough to deter others from attacking him and his friends.

The court heard he had admitted possessing a knife in a previous case, although he claimed that knife was not his.

Why did he go home and get the blade just 20 minutes before the attack?

He said he was cold, had gone home to get his coat and, in a moment of madness, decided to take the knife back out with him having been told trouble may be brewing and Jack's friends may be armed.

He said he only ever wanted to scare others if it did kick off at the fair, but why then did he wade so deep into the melee with the blade out?

Ultimately, whatever the reasoning behind his actions, he killed Jack Woodley.

Jack Woodley was repeatedly punched, kicked and stamped upon before being stabbed

Even the boy was surprised to find himself in the dock alongside nine others. He said the other youths, most of whom he claimed to only have met once before the trial, were not responsible for Jack's death.

While Jack suffered multiple injuries the only one that killed him was the single knife wound.

But it was not as simple as that, the prosecution said, hence their charging of 10 teens with murder.

The fatal blow would not have been struck if the first boy had not punched Jack, and a second, third, fourth and so on had not launched into the fray.

By being there, by taking part in that fracas outside the crowded Britannia Inn, even if their actual physical involvement was minor compared to others, each defendant contributed to the situation that culminated in the killing, the prosecutors argued.

Others would have been emboldened to mete out more violence upon their victim by the presence of their friends, they said.

'Created conflict'

Jack had come to the group's attention completely by chance.

A girl kissed a boy, the boy's ex-girlfriend took exception and a minor scrap broke out between the two.

Jack witnessed the girls' fight and asked another by-standing boy, who barely an hour later would form part of the killer gang, what it was about. The pair joked about it and then parted.

But rumours and lies about Jack quickly escalated, with one boy saying Jack had threatened to "punch the head in" of another - a total fabrication.

They were, Mr McKone said, trying to "create a conflict with Jack so they could attack him".

The group challenged him to a one-on-one fight, even going so far as to pat him down for a knife - he was totally unarmed.

'Kicking to death'

Jack walked off but as he did so he was followed and set upon amid shouts of "get the chopper out" from at least one person.

Witnesses who caught a glimpse of his face, as he curled up on the ground amid a frenzy of blows, recalled a clearly terrified young man. One said she had never seen such a petrified look.

One girl said they were "kicking him to death", a man from the pub described the gang as like a "herd of lions".

"They looked very angry as if they did want to hurt this boy," another girl said, adding: "It wasn't like a normal fight. They were trying to really hurt him."

So the reason Jack Woodley was killed was simply because a gang of boys wanted to harm someone, the prosecution argued.

None of his killers could offer an alternative explanation.