Murderer in prison for at least 19 years
A MURDERER who stabbed his on-off partner’s former lover to death during a knife fight outside her home has been told he must serve a minimum of 19 years behind bars.
Mohammed Rahman went out with a large kitchen knife when Alan Stokoe turned up in Laura McGee’s street armed with a smaller blade and issuing threats.
During a clash between the two men which was caught on CCTV, Rahman stuck his knife right through Mr Stokoe’s neck, severing both jugular veins and both carotid arteries and killing him.
In the aftermath, as Mr Stokoe lay bleeding to death in the street, Rahman and McGee plotted to lie about what had happened to the police.
Rahman was convicted last week of murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
McGee, 30, who appeared in the dock at Newcastle Crown Court for sentence alongside Rahman, was jailed for six months after admitting the perverting justice charge.
Mr Stokoe’s mother Joanne Stokoe became upset as she read a victim impact statement, during which McGee was agitated and pointing her finger and mouthing things towards her from behind the screen of the dock.
Mrs Stokoe said: “This has left a huge hole in my heart, left me with emptiness and darkness I cannot seem to overcome.
“I wish I was able to see him and hear his voice one more time.
“I feel I cannot live without him. I physically ache because I cannot see him again. The pain can be overbearing.
“I miss him so much. When I miss him I sit at his grave and talk to him.
“I don’t know how I am supposed to get over this. The first thing I think about when I wake up is Alan and he is the last thing I think about at night.
“There will be no more moments, no more hugs or dances or conversations, no more laughs and tears.”
Rahman, 44, and Stokoe, 26, clashed outside McGee’s home in Chester-leStreet, County Durham, in the early hours of July 21 last year.
Rahman was visiting McGee and their young child when trouble flared.
He was also stabbed during the altercation but jurors rejected his claims he was acting in self-defence.
The court heard in the nine minutes it took for emergency services to arrive at the scene, Rahman and McGee came up with a “pack of lies” about Mr Stokoe going into her house with two knives and having to be disarmed.
McGee then persisted with the false account when interviewed as a witness but the truth was exposed by the cam
era footage of what really happened. Rahman was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 19 years behind bars before he can apply for parole. Mr Justice Goss said the precise “catalyst” for the explosion of violence that night is known only to the two men involved.
He added: “However, I have no doubt its origins lie in the fact you had been with a relationship with Laura McGee, you had a child together, you were wanting to maintain some form of relationship with each other. “You, Laura McGee had, more recently, been in a tempestuous relationship with Alan Stokoe.”
The judge told Rahman, who has previous convictions for violence and sexual assault: “Had the offence not been captured on CCTV you may well have got away with your crime.” Kirsty Brimelow QC, defending Rahman, who had been living in London, said the killer had taken the knife into the street to frighten Mr Stokoe, not to murder him, faced significant provocation and is sorry.
She added: “He would do anything to turn the clock back and is desperately sorry for doing what he did.” Daniel Cordey, defending McGee, said: “Once she had told the lie it was hard, given her frame of mind at the time, for her to go back on the initial lies she had told
“She was of the view she had been saved from the prospect of at least serious injury or more by Mr Rahman.”
Had the offence not been captured on CCTV you may well have got away wth your crime
Mr Justice Goss