Killer jailed for murdering friend on sleepover

Dean Johnson was jailed for 17 and a half years

A man who murdered his friend who had let him stay over has been jailed for at least 17 and a half years.

Dean Johnson, 52, attacked Paul Wilkinson with a kitchen knife a flat in Walker, Newcastle, on 4 December.

Johnson, of no fixed abode, was jailed for life with the minimum term at Newcastle Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to murder.

Police said the reason for the "vicious, sustained and unprovoked" attack was still unknown.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said Johnson met up with his 47-year-old victim on 3 December and went to stay at Mr Wilkinson's flat on Church Walk.

She said: "They remained at the flat together until the following lunchtime, when for reasons known only to Johnson, after barricading them both into the living room, he attacked Mr Wilkinson, who had welcomed him into his home as a friend, in a vicious, sustained and unprovoked assault using knives from within the address."

She said Mr Wilkinson suffered multiple stab wounds to his torso and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Det Ch Insp Graeme Barr said it had been a "distressing time" for Mr Wilkinson's family and though "no sentence can ever bring him back", he hoped it would "offer them their first steps towards the closure they need and deserve".