‘Save someone else’s family going through what we have’
Joan’s family’s mental health plea as care chiefs launch probe into‘ psycho tic’ killer’ s treatment
“Once they are gone, you can never get them back.”
The family of Joan Hoggett have made an impassioned plea on knife crime and have urged those with mental health issues to seek support as the teenager who stabbed the much-loved great-grandmother to death awaits sentence for her killing.
Ethan Mountain, who was wearing a horror mask and had his hood up, launched a “50-second” attack on the 62-year-old as she worked in the One Stop Shop, in Fulwell, Sunderland, and left her with 29 knife injuries which caused damage to her heart, lung, arteries and intestine.
The attack, which happened shortly before closing time on September 5 last year, led to “catastrophic” blood loss, which sent Joan, from Grindon, into cardiac arrest and resulted in her death.
Mountain left a blue Nike holdall at the scene, which contained a sheathed Hibben custom knife, a sheathed samurai sword, two sheathed machetes, a hunting knife, a hinged knife, clothing, and a document with his name on.
He had been diagnosed as “acutely psychotic” between June and August 2017 but was released from the psychiatric hospital that month.
The 19-year-old, of Heaton Gardens, South Shields, who is currently detained in Rampton top security hospital, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He had been on trial at Newcastle Crown Court, where prosecutors claimed the killing, which may have been part of a botched attempted robbery, was murder.
But Mountain’s legal team claimed the teen was suffering an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing, which impaired his responsibility for it.
Prosecutor David Brooke QC said it was now accepted that Mountain is a paranoid schizophrenic and “very ill”, and trial judge Mr Justice Butcher ordered the jury to deliver a not guilty verdict in respect of the murder charge.
Mountain will be sentenced for manslaughter next Friday.
After the hearing, Michelle Young, the daughter of Mrs Hoggett, read out a family statement.
She said: “We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to the emergency services and the police who quickly attended to my mam.
“Also, for the support of Northumbria Police, family and friends.
“The Fulwell community have had an amazing impact on both myself, brother and my children and family members with their exceptional community spirit.
“You all have helped in ways we cannot fully express. Thank you.
“Our whole family have struggled and are devastated over the way my mam was killed.
“I personally feel that anyone suffering from mental health issues should not delay getting help and not avoid talking about it.
“That could save someone else’s family going through whatwehaveallgonethrough these past six months.
“Anybody who is think-
“Save someone else’s family going through what we have” MICHELLE YOUNG
ing of taking a knife out with them, think twice, you are not just taking one life, you are taking the victim’s families and your own families’ lives as well.
“Once they are gone, you can never get them back.”
Mountain’s barrister, Leonard Smith QC, said the teen could face a period of detention or be given a hospital order, which would mean the Home Secretary would have to approve his eventual release.
Mr Smith said whatever the outcome, Mountain will be detained for a “very, very long time indeed”.
The court was told how Mountain, carrying a rucksack containing knives, left his home and walked to East Boldon Metro station shortly before boarding a train to Seaburn at about 10pm on the night of the killing.
He was seen walking down Sea Road before stopping outside the shop. He then pulled on a mask and entered before attacking Joan.
Leaving his bag at the scene, Mountain was caught on CCTV running away from the store.
He went on to discard the knife, a jacket he was wearing, and his mobile phone as he fled.
Shortly after, the teenager turned up at a friend’s house, wearing bloodstained clothing and with superficial cuts he may have caused to himself.
He told the pal he had “stabbed someone” and said he had been “seeing people and hearing stuff ”.
The friend called the police and took Mountain to Whitburn Park, where he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Over the next few days, police carried out a large-scale investigation which saw officers close off Roker Park, where a knife sheath was found which contained traces of Mountain’s DNA.
A team of divers also searched a pond inside the park for Mountain’s mobile phone, which was never found. The jacket he had worn during the attack was also found discarded in the garden of a property in Calderbourne Avenue.
After being charged with murder, Mountain responded: “It was not me; I was not in the right frame of mind.”
Northumbria Police said Mountain refused to co-operate in interview but later admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility during a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court in January.