The mum and accomplice of vulnerable Lee Irving's killer has been freed from jail.
Julie Mills was locked up for 10 years for her role in vulnerable Lee's death while her son, James Wheatley, was jailed for life for murder.
In one of the most cruel and violent crimes Tyneside has seen in recent years Lee, who suffered from learning difficulties, was held captive at their Newcastle home where he was beaten, abused and sedated with drugs,
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After he died, the 24-year-old's body was wheeled in a pushchair and dumped near to the A1 in Fawdon.
He had suffered a catalogue of injuries, likened to those seen on car crash casualties, including 27 rib fractures.
After a harrowing trial, Wheatley was found guilty of murder and his mother Mills was convicted of perverting the course of justice and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult after the jury heard how she did nothing to stop her son's murderous actions.
But now, less than seven years after Lee's horrific death Mills is back on the streets after being freed from jail.
And today Lee's mum, Bev, has told of her anguish at hearing of the early release as she reveals her fears that Mills is still a danger to the public.
The 48-year-old said: "I just want to warn the whole of the UK about her being out. She is someone who has shown she is capable of exploiting vulnerable people.
"She's just disgusting. People need to know that someone like that is walking the streets."
Lee grew up in the West Denton area of Newcastle with Bev and his three brothers, Joe, Charlie and Owen.
He was identified as having severe speech and learning difficulties at an early age, and was educated at the Percy Hedley School, which caters for children with additional needs.
Bev has told how she had always worried that her son's vulnerabilities would make him a target for bullies. But nothing could have prepared her for the horror that would unfold after trusting Lee was befriended by evil Wheatley, then 29.
Lee began to spend time at the home Wheatley and Mills shared at Studdon Walk in Kenton Bar in 2014, sometimes disappearing for long periods.
Bev said she would regularly report her son missing to the police and other agencies, but was repeatedly told that because Lee was an adult he was free to go where he pleased.
Bev last saw Lee alive at the beginning of April 2015, as she dropped him off at a friend’s house in Ashington.
But before long he was back at Wheatley and Mills' home, where he was held captive and abused.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how Lee was sedated with drugs, including morphine, to prevent him escaping his captors and kicked and stamped on.
His dumped body was found on the morning of Saturday, June 6, 2015.
Bev has never got over what happened to her son, and still makes almost daily trips to his graveside.
And knowing that Mills is now able to taste freedom has dealt a new painful blow to the heartbroken mum.
"It's like mental torture," said Bev. "Not just for me but for my other sons too.
"She's a mother who held my son in her house for months. She shouldn't be allowed to breath the same oxygen I breath.
"I can't move on, my life has been destroyed and she can start a new one now."
Wheatley was given a life sentence with a minimum of 23 years behind bars for Lee's murder.
Along with Mills, his girlfriend Nicole Lawrence was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
Mills was initially sentenced to eight years behind bars and Lawrence was jailed for four, but the pair had their sentences increased to 10 and seven years at the Court of Appeal.
Wheatley’s lodger Barry Imray, who was also found guilty of allowing Lee’s death, was locked up for three years.
