Jack Woodley: Mum hopes clothes will help with knife crime education

Campaigning mum Zoey McGill is planning to use her son Jack Woodley’s coat, T-shirt and tops to show how easy it is to suffer a fatal stab wound.

She has already made a powerful film with Durham Constabulary that has been showed to thousands of children in her hometown of Newton Aycliffe.

And the 37-year-old is a supporter of the North East Knife Crime Taskforce, which was set up by the Northern Echo as part of the campaign launched in the aftermath of Jack’s death.

The 18-year-old was stabbed in the back by 15-year-old Calum Maddison during a savage beating with nine other boys aged 14 to 17 as he left the Houghton Feast in October 2021.

Jack Woodley (Image: Contributor)

The clothes he wore that night have been kept by the authorities as evidence but, now all ten are behind bars and have failed in their appeal bids, they have been returned to Zoey.

She said: “Jack had a Hugo Boss T-shirt on and even after getting it extensively dry cleaned you can still see the stains on it.

“You cannot see blood but you can tell there is a dark colour on it.

Zoey McGill is planning to use her son Jack Woodley’s knife-torn clothing to show how easy it is to suffer a fatal stab wound (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“You can see the stab wounds and I thought it would be good to show kids.

“You can see where the knife went in and where the police have done their investigation on it and where they have written on it.”

During the murder trial at Newcastle Crown Court in 2022 prosecutors proved the Rambo-style knife used left a wound 7cm deep that proved fatal.

Zoey said Jack was wearing four of five layers that night and hopes see they clothes he wore will hit home as knife crime figures across the country remain stubbornly high.

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Zoey said: “People ask why I want it back and they don’t get it.

“That is what my son had for the last minute I spent with him to the point he died. It was my son’s stuff.

Jack Woodley's T-shirt with a hole created by the knife which was used to stab him (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“This clothing could help show kids the impact so they cannot say ‘I never meant to kill him’.”

Zoey, who is expecting her fourth child in July, recently found a rap video she believes was recorded by Maddison using a contraband mobile phone in his prison cell.

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As well as Jack’s prized new Canada Goose jacket, she has also been given his new trainers and most importantly his mobile phone with precious previously unseen footage and photographs on it.

Jack's mobile phone, now returned to his mother, has messages and pictures on which she had never seen before (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Zoey added: “They have unlocked it and there are videos from the night before he died of him and his little brother in our caravan.

“He was laughing and joking. When I saw them on his phone. I was crying my eyes out.

“Getting his phone back was amazing because there was lots of stuff on there that I could forward to myself to save.

“They are just priceless memories of him.”