For boy, 14, who died after gangs clashed

examining hundreds of pages of mobile phone records.

“We started to get footage of the group Neto and Natty were in. We didn’t see anybody’s faces, there’s hoods up and dark clothing. But one person was wearing a really distinctive blue hoodie, and that was really clear in the footage.”

Gordon died in hospital six days after he was stabbed, and the probe became a murder investigation.

“I remember being contacted to say that Gordon had passed away in hospital with his mum by his side,” he said. “That was a really difficult moment. Now it was a 14-year-old who had been killed on the streets of Newcastle, and this was a murder investigation.

“It does focus the mind. It’s difficult for lots of the investigators on this team. It was now about making sure we did everything we could to get justice for Gordon’s family.”

With Gordon and his loved ones never far from their thoughts, the team continued with their hugely complex investigation.

“The CCTV strategy was vast. There was more than 3,200 hours of CCTV footage recovered,” Det Chief Insp Steel explained. “We are following the people on the footage and everyone associated to them. It expanded right across Newcastle then to Gateshead and South Tyneside.

And as mobile phones analysis continued, police found key evidence. “We got a bit of a breakthrough in finding a video of someone being assaulted,” said Det

Chief Insp Steel. “We now know that male was associated to Neto and Natty. We know the people doing that assault are from a different group. It definitely looks like that was the trigger point for the events on November 9.

“Over December, we continued to investigate mobile phones and analyse CCTV. A lot of times we only had a user name to go on.

“In early January we arrested Lawson Natty. Natty denied the offence when he was arrested. But when reviewing his phone it was established he had ordered two machetes that were delivered to his home address on November 8 and 9, and a blue hoodie.

“It was one of those machetes that stabbed Gordon Gault. We didn’t know about this until well into January. It takes time, it’s difficult. This was not a case that was going to come quickly or easily.”

Police were also able to recover social media chats and rap lyrics, which chillingly showed how Gordon’s death was being celebrated among the group Neto and Natty were part of.

In June last year, six teenagers, including Neto and Natty, were charged with Gordon’s murder. They were all cleared of the charge following the trial with just Neto and Natty being found guilty of manslaughter.

Neto, of Manchester Road East, Manchester, was jailed for nine years and two months and Natty, of Eastgarth, Newbiggin Hall, got two years and eight months.