Connor Brown murder: Full text of judge's sentencing comments to Leighton Barrass and Ally Gordon

Here is the full text of what Mr Justice Lavender said to Leighton Barrass and Ally Gordon as he sentenced them following their trial at Newcastle Crown Court over the death of Connor Brown.
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"Leighton Barrass, the jury have found you guilty of the murder of Connor Brown and you have pleaded guilty to having a knife with you in a public place. Ally Gordon, the jury have found you guilty of manslaughter and of having a knife with you in a public place.

"Connor Brown was stabbed five times at about 1.24am on Sunday 24 February 2019 in Sunderland town centre, after a night out with friends. I am sure that you, Leighton Barrass, inflicted each of those stab wounds, including the fatal wound to the heart.

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"You, Ally Gordon, assisted and encouraged Leighton Barrass, kicking Connor Brown when he was grappling with Leighton Barrass, although you did not yourself inflict any injuries.

Leighton Barrass and Ally GordonLeighton Barrass and Ally Gordon
Leighton Barrass and Ally Gordon

"Your actions did not just end Connor Brown's young life. They brought misery and grief to the lives of others, especially his parents and his sister. His mother has made a moving statement in which she has explained, much more eloquently than I ever could, how their lives have been devastated.

"You arrived together in Sunderland town centre at about 1am that morning. You, Leighton Barrass, were carrying a flick knife. I am sure that you knew that you had it in you and that it was not, as you claimed, something which you had bought to cut bait when fishing and then forgotten about. You had been showing it off earlier in the day and I am sure that you regarded it as a weapon, to be deployed as and when necessary.

"You went into the alley which runs from Stockton Road to Park Lane, which is used by young men and women to move from one night club to another. You tried, without success, to sell drugs to some of the young men you met there.

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"One of those young men was Stephen Nunn, a friend of Connor Brown's. he punched you, Leighton Barrass, in the face and gave you a bloody nose. You retreated back up the alley, but then you made the fatal decision to come back down the alley. You held the knife and said, "I'll stab any one of yous."

Connor Brown.Connor Brown.
Connor Brown.
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"Connor Brown did not give into your threats, but decided to take you on. He punched you, but you stabbed him three times in the side and twice in the back. Two of those blows damaged his ribs and one went through his shoulder blade. As I have said, you stabbed him in the heart and that is what killed him.

"Ally Gordon, you encouraged and assisted your friend by joining in and kicking Connor Brown while he was being stabbed. By their verdict, the jury have indicated that they were not sure that you intended Connor Brown should be caused really serious injury.

"Leighton Barrass, when someone like you is convicted of murder, I have to impose a sentence of custody for life. However, I have to decide the minimum term which you will serve before you are eligible to be considered for release by the Parole Board.

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"It is important that you, and everyone concerned with this case, should understand what a minimum term means. A minimum term is not a fixed term after which you will automatically be released. It is the minimum time which you will spend in custody before your case can be considered by the Parole Board. It will then be for the Parole Board to say whether or not you will be released. If they do not, you will remain in custody.

"If and when you are released, you will still be subject to licence. This will remain the case for the rest of your life. If for any reason your licence were to be revoked, you would be recalled to prison to serve your life sentence in custody.

"In your case, because you brought a knife with you, the law says that the starting point is a minimum term of 25 years. I have to consider whether I should adjust that figure up or down. So I have to consider all of the aggravating and mitigating factors.

"In your case, Ally Gordon, there are guidelines for sentencing in cases of manslaughter. I am not sure that you knew Leighton Barrass had a knife. Yours is therefore a case of medium culpability, for which the guidelines say that the starting point is six years imprisonment, with a range from three to nine years. I do not accept that this was a case of lower culpability. I am sure that you were not acting in defence of Leighton Barrass but, in the words of one of the witnesses, you wanted to get your piece in. Again, I have to consider all of the aggravating and mitigating factors.

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"As for the aggravating factors, you were both significantly intoxicated. Moreover, for so long as he remained conscious, Connor Brown will have suffered considerable pain and the distressing CCTV footage of him stumbling down the alley and collapsing gives some idea of what he went through. There were many others around you, and you, Leighton Barrass, threatened to stab any one of them.

"You, Leighton Barrass, were cautioned in 2015 and you were convicted of three offences in 2017, although those matters are not particularly significant for present purposes. What is more significant is that you stabbed Connor Brown less than three weeks after being sentenced for another offence committed in Sunderland town centre in the early hours of the morning. That was at 5am on Saturday 28 July 2018, when you used threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of provocation of violence. I discharge the community order imposed for that offence.

"Nevertheless, the predominant feature of your criminal record is that you have never before been convicted of an offence involving the actual use of violence, let alone an offence involving an intention to cause really serious harm.

"As for the mitigating factors, this offence was not premeditated and it is right to say that Connor Brown was the first to use violence, albeit in response to the threat to stab. I do not regard Connor Brown's or Stephen Nunn's actions as amounting, to any appreciable extent, either to provocation or to anything close to a situation where you could claim that you were acting in self-defence.

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"It is accepted that you, Leighton Barrass, did not intend to kill Connor Brown, and that is a mitigating factor.

"A significant mitigating factor is that you are both young men. You, Leighton Barrass, had just turned 20, and you, Ally Gordon, were 19 years and five months old when you did this. I have no evidence that were particularly immature for your age.

"However, I have read reports about you, Leighton Barrass, prepared by a psychiatrist and a psychologist. You had mild personality difficulties and stress-related depressive symptoms, none of which were helped by your consumption of drink and drugs, but your condition was not so serious as to result in a diagnosis of either depression or a personality disorder. In addition, your overall thinking and reasoning skills are extremely low.

"Your drinking and drug-taking will not help you. However, I will treat you as someone whose culpability was reduced to a modest extent by these matters. I accept that they may have made you less well able to cope than others might have done with the developing situation in the alley, but I cannot forget that that situation was created by your decision to produce a knife and to threaten to stab people with it.

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"I have read your letters and I accept that both of you feel remorse for what you did.

"Ally Gordon, you have no previous convictions, and I will give you credit for that. Yours was very much the lesser role in causing Connor Brown's death. Consequently, I do not consider that you meet the test for an extended sentence.

"As for your offences of possession of a knife, you, Leighton Barrass, were in possession of a knife in circumstances where there was a risk of being serious disorder. For you, therefore, the sentencing guidelines indicate a starting point of 18 months' imprisonment. Because you pleaded guilty, your sentence will be one quarter less than it would otherwise have been.

"For you, Ally Gordon, the guidelines indicate a starting point of six months. However, I have taken account of the knife offences in determining the sentences which I am going to impose for the offences of murder and manslaughter.

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"I order that the knives and the drugs found at the scene are forfeited and destroyed. I also have to make an order that you can each pay a victim surcharge, and the order will be drawn up in the appropriate amount.

"Leighton Barrass, for murder I impose on you a sentence of custody for life. I fix the minimum term which you will serve in custody at 20 years, less the time which you have spent in custody on remand. I am told that you have spent 289 days in custody on remand, so the minimum term will be 19 years and 76 days. If that figure is wrong, it can be corrected administratively, without the need for you to come back to court.

"I also impose a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment for possession of the knife. That sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence for murder, so it will not affect the time which you will spend in prison.

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"Ally Gordon, I impose on you a sentence of three years and six month imprisonment. The time which you have spent in prison on remand will automatically count towards your sentence.

"I also impose a sentence of six months imprisonment for the possession of the knife. That sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence for manslaughter, so your total sentence will be three years and six months imprisonment.

"You will serve up to one half of your sentence in custody before you are released on licence. You must abide by the terms of the licence and commit no further offences. Otherwise, you will be liable to be recalled and you will then serve the remainder of the sentence in custody."