Tomasz Oleszak murder: Leighton Amies detained for 12 years

Leighton Amies killed Tomasz Oleszak with a steak knife

A teenager who murdered a 14-year-old boy in a Gateshead park has been detained for at least 12 years.

Tomasz Oleszak suffered an 8cm-deep wound to his chest when he was stabbed on 3 October and died the next day.

Leighton Amies, who is 15 but was 14 at the time, claimed he stabbed Tomasz by accident during an attack by a gang but jurors found him guilty of murder.

Judge Mr Justice Martin Spencer said once released, Amies would be on licence for the rest of his life.

Tomasz had been out playing football when he was stabbed in Whitehills Nature Park at about 20:00 BST, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The killer, who did not know his victim, was walking with a girl through the park when he was allegedly set upon by a group of youths.

Amies had told jurors he flailed the knife around to scare off the attackers and it accidentally hit Tomasz.

But witnesses recalled him shouting "I've wetted your boy", which prosecutor Mark McKone KC described as "a boast".

Mr McKone said despite the killer's claim of being repeatedly punched and kicked he suffered no injuries, and Tomasz's wound would have required a "deliberate and determined stabbing".

Tomasz Oleszak was a keen footballer and had been out playing the night he was killed

In a statement read in court, Tomasz's mother Kamila Wisniewska said her whole family was "utterly devastated" and their lives had been ripped apart by his murder.

She said her "amazing, gentle, kind son" had "left the world in such a horrible, violent and unnecessary way".

She said Tomasz "was not a fighter" but her "hero" who "hated violence".

"He was the most beautiful boy with good manners and respect for life."

His bedroom remains untouched from how it was the day he died, Ms Wisniewska said.

Only the thought of her partner and Tomasz' six-year-old brother kept her going, the court heard.

She said she had gone from being a "happy-go-lucky mum" to "drowning in the loss", adding she was a "shadow" of her former self.

Mr Justice Martin Spencer said her statement was "heart rending" and Tomasz was a "bright, exceptional and gifted boy".

Tomasz Oleszak was described by his mother as the "most beautiful boy"

The judge said Amies had armed himself as he "anticipated trouble" and "intended to fight" with the group whom he had encountered the day before.

Several of them had planned to beat up Amies but Tomasz was not among them.

The judge said two of the boys confronted the killer and he reacted by drawing his knife, stabbing Tomasz and attempting to wound another boy, for which he was found guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.

The teenager was told: "Knowing you had the knife you were happy to fight them. With your interest in and knowledge of knives, you relished this fight."

'Malign and unhealthy'

The judge acknowledged that Amies was not the instigator and said others "will have to live with the knowledge their stupidity" led to the killing.

But, he said, the "principal responsibility" lay with Amies for "taking a knife and being prepared to use it".

The judge accepted Amies did not intend to kill and had expressed "genuine remorse".

The court heard the 15-year-old received a caution in February 2022 for possessing an improvised weapon during a melee between youths and in March 2021 set fire to a window at his school.

He had been excluded from primary school after threatening to slash the head teacher with broken glass.

Material found on his phone after Tomasz's death showed Amies had an "unhealthy and malign interest in knives", the judge said.