Joan Hoggett murder trial: Pal tells jury how Ethan Mountain turned up on doorstep and said 'I think I've killed someone'

A teenager told detectives a pal turned up at his door and told him "I think I've killed someone" just hours after a shopworker was stabbed to death.
Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.
Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.

The 17-year-old said Ethan Mountain was "covered in blood" when he arrived at his house in the early hours and made the shocking confession.Mountain has admitted he killed 62-year-old Joan Hoggett as she stacked shelves at the One Stop Shop, in Fulwell, Sunderland, just before closing time on September 5 last year.The 19-year-old, of Heaton Gardens, South Shields, denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court have watched a video recorded interview made by a pal of Mountain, whose home he went to just hours after the killing.

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Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.
Police officers at the One Stop shop where Joan Hoggett was stabbed to death.

"He went 'erm I think I've killed someone'."I went 'how?' and he went 'I've stabbed someone' then he explained that he had some mental health issues."He explained he was seeing people, hearing stuff, everything like that."The teen said Mountain had told him he had used "a knife" in the stabbing and that it happened at a "One Stop".He added: "I knew there was an incident there, before he came to my house."Then he said 'I think I've killed her'."The youth said he tried to reassure Mountain, who had cuts to his arms, face and hands, that the woman could be ok but he replied: "I'm going to go to jail."The teen said Mountain had told him he had "lost control" and "heard voices in his head telling him to do it" and that he had gone into the shop because he saw two men in there, who weren't actually there when he got inside.The teenager said he knew Mountain "collects knives" but that the ones he had seen "weren't sharp".The court heard it was the teenager who phoned for the police, who arrived and arrested Mountain near Whitburn Cricket Club.The teen said: "Ethan thought they were going to draw guns, they were going to Taser him."They didn't, they got out of the car, asked him to get on his knees, everything slow."The teenager said Mountain had "wanted to make sure the woman was okay".

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The court heard the pals had been together on the day of the killing and had played pool, played Xbox, gone to the gym and met other friends.The youth said Mountain had seemed "normal" that day but "would never show his friends" when he was struggling mentally in the past.Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton told the court Mrs Hoggett had 29 "sharp force" injuries to her torso, arms and legs, and that 19 of them were "deep stab wounds"The doctor said the injuries led to "significant and catastrophic blood loss" which caused death.The trial continues.