A loving grandad was brutally murdered by his childhood friend when a crack cocaine binge sent him into a paranoid delusional state.
Killer Dean Johnson and victim Paul Wilkinson were pals as youngsters and had recently rekindled their friendship. They had spent a night socialising together when tragedy struck.
Despite knowing cocaine was likely to trigger his paranoia, Johnson consumed a large amount of crack over around a ten hour period after being invited to Mr Wilkinson's flat at Church Walk House, Walker, Newcastle, last December.
Mr Wilkinson's cousin woke up the next day to find the living room door barricaded then listened in horror as his relative pleaded for his life as Johnson murdered him with a kitchen knife and plasterboard knife. He repeatedly stabbed him in the abdomen and one blow penetrated his heart, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
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Johnson, who has 109 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to murder. He was jailed for life and was told he must serve at least 17-and-a-half years before he can even be considered for parole.
Lisa Richardson, Mr Wilkinson's partner, said in a victim statement on behalf of his family: "The day Paul left us will haunt us all forever. It's something I will never come to terms with or begin to get over. A part of each of us died with him that day.
"Paul was a loving member of a very close family and we feel completely lost without the father of our beautiful daughters, who he adored and the grandfather of our three beautiful grandsons, the youngest of which he has been robbed of a chance to meet."
Miss Richardson said the circumstances of his death and their inability to say goodbye or tell him how much he was loved have made their anguish worse and they have tortured themselves about why it happened, particularly at the hands of a childhood friend.
She added that his mum is "truly broken" and "tormented at the thought Paul was frightened and suffered at the hands of Johnson". Miss Richardson went on: "Paul's friends say he had the heart of a lion and he was a loyal friend. He was likely trying to be a good friend to Johnson, which hurts and makes us angry.
"The circumstances are horrific and no one should ever have to deal with such anguish. I feel like my heart has been torn out.
"I have nightmares about what he must have gone through and I sleep in the clothes I last saw Paul in to give me some kind of comfort. He will never be forgotten and we will make sure his memory is kept alive."
The court heard Johnson, 52, and Paul, 47, had previously lived in the same street and in the six months leading up to December last year, they had rekindled their old friendship and had been speaking on the phone.
On Friday December 3, an arrangement had been made for Johnson to stay with Mr Wilkinson at his flat, where he lived with his cousin, Anthony Kennedy. They spent hours smoking crack cocaine despite the fact Johnson knew this was likely to trigger paranoid beliefs. Around 3am he began to state he hoped Mr Wilkinson and Mr Kennedy were not setting him up and said he believed people were about to jump out of rooms to attack him.
Attempts to reassure him fell on deaf ears and at one point he self-harmed. In the early hours, Mr Wilkinson asked Mr Kennedy to go to his bedroom so he could talk to Johnson privately as he was still expressing the view people were out to get him.
When Mr Kennedy woke up, between 1.30pm and 2pm on Saturday December 4, he found the door to the living room had been barricaded with a reclining chair. When he said he needed his medication, Mr Wilkinson told him he would bring him it in around ten minutes.
Judge Paul Sloan QC said: "He could hear low level talking then he heard the deceased panicked voice saying 'what have I ever done to you'. He heard the deceased screaming and pleading for his life, saying 'stop it Dean, you are going to kill me'.
"Mr Kennedy returned to the living room door and managed to force the door open a few inches and he was able to see the deceased lying horizontal and motionless across a chair. You were kneeling over him holding a knife in each hand, each knife pointing towards his bloodstained stomach. You had used those knives to stab him repeatedly."
When Johnson realised Mr Kennedy was at the door he threatened him to deter him from coming to the aid of his cousin, saying: "If you come in here I will do you and all". He also threatened to stab Mr Wilkinson more times if he came into the room.
Frantic Mr Kennedy, who didn't have a mobile phone, ran to a nearby Greggs to raise the alarm and a member of staff dialled 999. A minute or so later, Johnson did the same, announcing he had "killed a kid" and expressing more paranoid delusions.
Mr Wilkinson had suffered nine deep wounds - eight to his abdomen and one through his heart. There were a further 11 superficial knife wounds to the torso, 28 abrasions and scratches and a post mortem found there had been at least 20 separate actions with the two knives. There were no blunt force injuries and no evidence Mr Wilkinson, who was 5ft 6in and just nine stone, had delivered any blows to Johnson.
Judge Sloan said: "It was a particularly brutal and sustained attack. While he would have suffered excruciating pain when the attack began, the suffering would have been over very quickly when he lost consciousness."
David Lamb QC, prosecuting, added: "The victim was inside a barricaded room at the mercy of an armed assailant. The Crown say the sheer number of stab wounds are indicative of a fierce, brutal and sustained assault during which he intended to kill."
After his arrest, Johnson, of no fixed address, told police he had been invited to visit his friend but that "it was a trap and I had to do what I had to do".
Nicholas Lumley QC, defending, said: "He finds it impossible, even now, to believe what happened."
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