THE family of a man brutally murdered while sitting in his car with his young son in the rear have spoken of their devastation.
James Stokoe's wife and mother spoke of the impact his needless murder has had on their lives as Alexander Layton was jailed for life for the horrendous attack.
They were too upset to read out their heartbreaking words so prosecutor, Peter Makepeace QC, stepped in and read them out on the family’s behalf.
Alex Stokoe said her husband's death had 'destroyed' their happy family and its bright future.
She wrote: "The 15th May 2020 – the day that our world was changed forever. A day which started like every other and ended with my life as I knew it was destroyed as I knew it.
"I cannot possibly describe the impact that this has had on me and my family – it is all consuming. I am living a life sentence.
“I am a secondary character in this. James is the main character - all the things he will never get to do as a man, as a father. I am now a single mother, not by choice but because my husband was torn away from us.”
She added: "We were sat in bed when we heard our son had got into the school of our choice, we were so happy we both cried.
“It was a new chapter in Harry’s life, James never got to see that day, the most poignant day in a child’s life.I now stand in that playground on my own.
"Telling a four-year-old child that his father is dead and won’t be coming home again, is truly the most horrendous, painful moment of my life.
“To know out child had to see things that no child should ever have to see or hear, explain the process of death of James, so our son could understand what is happening around him. Harry accepts, as much as any child his age, can.”
She continued: “I now face my life as a 34-year-old widow without James, who was not only my husband but my best friend and soul mate. It was absolutely everything to me and my son.”
Doreen Stokoe, James’ mother, told of the devastation of losing her only child to the hands of a brutal murderer.
She wrote: “Our amazing son, our only child, was taken from this world in the most barbaric way imaginable. Each morning, I wake up to complete and utter desolation, my pain is immense and cannot be made better.
“Forty years of my life torn out of me in an instant. James was my life; I never imagined having to live a day without him. Yet here I am, in this surreal world and he is not.”
She added: “His future was taken from him when his life was so savagely ended, our family will never be the same, we have lost so much.
“He was loved by us and everyone who knew him, we have so much sadness in our lives now and there is no forgiveness in my heart.”
Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Layton, of Shackleton Close, Thornaby, to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 162 days from today.
The 34-year-old used a 12-inch kitchen knife to stab Mr Stokoe to death while he was sitting in his BMW after a road-rage row on Trenchard Avenue, Thornaby, on May 15 last year.
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