Two youths acted like a 'pack of wolves' as they chased Luke Jobson through Yarm

The 22-year-old’s mother read out a heart-wrenching statement at Edwin Taha and Ali Abdulmajieed were sentenced for affray in the minutes leading up to his disappearance.

Lisa Jobson described her son as ‘much loved’ as she told how her family had been left devastated by his death.

She said: “We miss Luke every single day; the pain we feel never goes away. Our lives have been destroyed and we will never be the same people again.

“This should never have happened. Luke has been robbed of his life at 22 – his life was just beginning.

“That night all of you were intent to harm, chased Luke in that car and he was running scared from danger. He was alone, frightened and vulnerable, you all acted like a pack of wolves, hunting him down.”

Luke Jobson

Taha, of Lavender Way, Norton, was also sentenced for drug charges in relation to possession with intent to supply cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine.

Judge Howard Crowson said no sentence would ease the pain of Luke Jobson’s family.

He said: “On January 25 he left home to spend the evening with friends in Yarm and he never came home.

“Neither of you is legally responsible for his death, in the sense you have never faced a charged alleging that you caused his death, but it is inescapable that if he had not been chased along Yarm High Street, if he had not felt threatened and frightened by your confrontation, he would not have entered the grounds of Yarm High School and its boathouse and he would not have drowned in the River Tees.”

Taha was sent to a young offenders’ institute for 21 months for the affray and given an additional four years and four months for the drug charges.

Adbulmajieed, of Corvus Drive, Stockton, also changed his plea to guilty on the day of the trial, was given a 15-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.

The boathouse at Yarm School

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court how the tragic events of the evening in January last year came to a fatal climax.

He said: “Edwin Taha then sprayed Luke Jobson in the face with what was likely to be a pepper spray. Whatever it was that hit Luke Jobson’s eyes, it incapacitated him, and he wasn’t able to see.

“Having assaulted him with this weapon, Edwin Taha, together with the other defendants, then got back into the VW Golf and it was driven away by Ali Abdulmajieed back to the High Street.

“Not a single occupant of that vehicle made any attempt to check if Luke Jobson was alright.”

He added: “Edwin Taha had bragged about pepper spraying Luke when he had returned to the High Street and that began to circulate too.”

John Nixon, representing Taha, told the court his client was only 18 at the time of the incident and said he planned to use his experiences to turn other young people away from a life of crime.

Abdulmajieed, a second-year accountancy student, went into Yarm to help with the search for Mr Jobson while he was still missing.

His legal representative, Paul Newcombe, said his client had never been in trouble before.