Jodie Wilkinson

Jodie Wilkinson was stabbed during an altercation in Stanhope Street on the afternoon of 17 October 2016.

A 44-year-old man was tried for her murder but acquitted although four men were later convicted of violent disorder.

She had been with a group of people who became involved in a fight with another group of people. It was said that the fight had started after someone from the other group barged into someone from Jodie Wilkinson's group and made a racist comment to them. The man that was barged into was charge with violent disorder but cleared after a trial.

Another man from Jodie Wilkinson's group was also stabbed but survived.

Jodie Wilkinson was stabbed in the abdomen and suffered from massive internal bleeding. After being stabbed she was able to call 999 as she collapsed by some railings. Although the emergency services arrived within minutes, Jodie Wilkinson died at the scene at 5.02pm on 17 October 2016.

She had been stabbed in the upper left abdomen and had a wound about 5cm wide and 11cm deep that had completely or partially severed four major blood vessels in addition to damaging her liver, stomach and pancreas.

The two groups had encountered each other in Stanhope Street and after the initial altercation, there had been some aggressive posturing during a stand off between them.

It was said that the man that had started the incident then went off to the house of one of the other men in his group.

A while later, the man that had been racially abused returned to the scene to see if he could get some legal highs he had dropped, and the altercation started again. It was noted that at that time Jodie Wilkinson had been waiting further up the street and was not involved with things.

It was said then that a short person who was part of the other group and who was also convicted of violent disorder then called a friend to summon reinforcements and that shortly after several people arrived, including a man that had sprinted through the estate to get there, and on the way had invited another youth to, 'come and batter some smegheads'.

The other group was then seen on CCTV to chase Jodie Wilkinson's group, with some of them armed with pieces of wood.

It was said that during that flurry of activity that Jodie Wilkinson was stabbed.

When the judge summed up, he said, 'While I don’t suggest it was any of you four that stabbed Jodie Wilkinson, nevertheless it’s clear from your actions in forming an armed group to which others had been recruited and chasing unarmed people, you all intended some violence would be used. The fact some of you were armed and some were not is irrelevant. You were all part of the same armed group with the same intention and in my view you all bear some moral responsibility. Without your actions Jodie Wilkinson's friend could have been uninjured and Jodie Wilkinson could still be alive today'.

The four men convicted of violent disorder were:

• 21-year-old male: sentenced to three years.
• 26-year-old male: sentenced to eighteen months.
• 25-year-old male: sentenced to twenty months.
• 23-year-old male: sentenced to sixteen months.

Jodie Wilkinson was noted for having previously won the Chronicle Young Achiever award in 2010 for having turned her life around.