A GIANT of a man who stabbed to death and then tried to burn the body of his best friend's mother is to be sentenced this afternoon.

Towering Lee Christopher Robson, 20, who is 6ft 5ins tall and weighs over 20 stones, pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court to stabbing mother-of-three Pamela Cole eight times and battering her face with a brick up to 12 times.

The unprovoked attack on September 4 last year came just hours after Mrs Cole, 42, had celebrated her grandson, Curtis' first birthday.

Full story in tomorrow's Northern Echo