The grieving mother of a young woman who was stabbed to death by her partner said knife crime destroys families.
Gemma Finnigan, 24, was killed by Daniel Johnson at their home in Boldon Colliery, South Tyneside, in September 2013. He had became convinced she was possessed by the devil.
Johnson, who was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, lashed out at Gemma after weeks of bizarre behaviour. He strangled and beat her until she was unconscious before stabbing her in the back and front 14 times.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how Johnson then drove to Kenton School, in Kenton, Newcastle, where he broke in. He was found wandering round stripped to the waist, covered in blood.
Johnson, then 33, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. In November 2014, he was jailed for life at the court in Newcastle and told to serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars.
Gemma's family discovered, during the case, that he had killed another innocent person 16 years earlier and served 12 years for the crime.
In the last five months, three North East teenagers have lost their lives as a result of knife crime - Tomasz Oleszak, 14, Gordon Gault, 14, and Holly Newton, 15.
Gemma mum Jennifer Finnigan, who lives in Jarrow, South Tyneside, is backing ChronicleLive's Stop Knives Taking Lives campaign.
The 54-year-old, who has six grandchildren, said: "It's awful, there's no other word for it. It's definitely getting worse. I just don't know how we have got to this stage. It just seems so bad.
"It's very scary. People are losing their lives. We have had to live with the consequences of it and I feel for the other families.
"I don't think these people realise what they are doing. They don't just take one life, they take the lives of their family and friends.
"It destroys families. It's something you never move on from. There's no going back once it's happened and there's no putting it right.
"Just don't do it! I can't understand the logic. If you're carrying a knife it's to do something. You are out to hurt someone.
"To think of these young ones picking a knife up and doing it blows my mind. I don't know how their minds work, I really don't.
"It's scary for the grandbairns coming along, you don't want them to go out. It's hard letting them go."
Johnson met Gemma shortly after being released on licence for the 1996 joint murder of David Younes, 32, in Kenton. Johnson, then 15, struck him over the head with a metal bar while his 17-year-old co-accused repeatedly stabbed him.
However the true nature of Johnson's crime was never revealed to Gemma or her family.
Jennifer previously said Gemma would still be alive if the probation service, police and NHS had worked together more effectively to warn her daughter of Johnson’s complex medial history and criminal past.
It will be the 10th anniversary of Gemma's death in September this year.
Jennifer, who is also mum to Sarah, 36, Teri, 28, and Kristi, 25, said: "It's 10 years for Gemma this year and I don't feel any different. It destroys you, you're never the same again.
"I didn't think I would get here. I never in a million years thought I would survive 10 years. I don't know how I have got here.
"Every morning I get a split second where I think that my life's ok and it comes here every single morning. It comes back and hits you.
"I don't go out and I don't have a life anymore. Her sisters have suffered, I'm not what I was anymore. It's awful.
"But I have got a lot of support. I have got my daughters and my grandchildren."
Tomasz Oleszak, 14, was seriously injured on the Springwell Estate in Gateshead in October last year. The teenager was taken to hospital where he sadly passed away the following morning.
His death prompted Northumbria Police to launch a murder investigation. A 15-year-old will stand trial in March accused of killing Tomasz on October 4 and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to another teenager the day before.
Gordon Gault, 14, from Benwell, Newcastle, died in hospital six days after he was allegedly stabbed in Elswick in November last year. Police have arrested a number of teenagers as part of the investigation, but no-one has been charged.
On January 27, keen dancer Holly Newton, 15, from Haltwhistle, Northumberland, died in hospital after an alleged knife attack in Hexham. A teenage boy also suffered serious injuries in the incident.
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder, attempted murder and possessing a knife and is currently remanded into youth detention accommodation.
As part of Chroniclelive's Stop Knives Taking Lives campaign we will be:
- telling the stories of those whose lives have been ripped apart by knife crime in a bid to raise awareness and make people truly understand the devastating consequences carrying or using a knife can have
raising awareness of knife laws to act as a deterrent
signposting people to places they can get help
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