A TEENAGER who killed a shop worker during her shift will spend an indefinite length of time in a secure hospital.

Ethan Mountain stabbed 62-year-old Joan Hoggett multiple times in an unprovoked attack at the One Stop shop on Sea Road, Sunderland last September 5.

Mountain, of Heaton Gardens, South Shields, admitted manslaughter with diminished responsibility but denied murdering the grandmother – claiming he was “not in the right frame of mind” at the time of the offence.

Last week, a judge ordered a Newcastle Crown Court jury to find Mountain, 19, not guilty of one count of murder on the grounds that his mental responsibility for the killing was diminished.

Mountain, who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 2017 and treated with anti-psychotic medication, was in court for sentencing yesterday. He received a hospital order under the Mental Health Act and was detained at Rampton Hospital indefinitely.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mrs Hoggett’s daughter, Michelle Young, described her mother as “the life and soul of any party”.

She said: “It’s extremely difficult for me to put into words the impact of losing my mam, who was the rock that kept the family together. Mam was the reason for all our family events and she really was the life and soul of any party.

“I do not want to live fearing people, looking over my shoulder to see if they are going to attack. I just want life to be normal again, albeit without Mam here in person but forever in our hearts.”