Partner of man stabbed in head in Cleethorpes calls for 'more eduction' on knife crime

• Video report by Matt Price

The partner of a father who was stabbed in the head on a night out says his death has left her feeling like she is "living a different life".

Tom Gaughan, 32, died after he was attacked in Cleethorpes in July last year.

Speaking for the first time, his partner Bryony Darwood - who had two children with him - described Mr Gaughan as "lovely", "cheeky", "funny" and "kind".

"He was loving, he was an amazing dad," she said.

She added: "I feel like I'm living a different life now... I'm a different person from the person I used to be.

"We grieve for his life as well - the life that he should be living. He was 32, he should be living, he should be with his children, but he can't because somebody decided to take a knife out and use it and that can't be undone."

Mr Gaughan and his killer Connor Hulse had been socialising with separate groups before the incident on 21 July.

A trial at Grimsby Crown Court heard Mr Gaughan and his friend Jack Kitchen were walking along High Street towards Grant Street when they came across Hulse and his girlfriend Gabrielle Hough.

A fight broke out after Mr Kitchen made a "crude remark" about Ms Hough.

Hulse, 22, pulled a knife from his waistband and was swinging it around, before lunging at Mr Gaughan, who suffered a 4cm-deep head wound.

He died 25 days later, leaving behind a total of five children.

Hulse, of Chester Walk, Grimsby, was found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.

Miss Darwood says there needs to be "harsher punishments" for perpetrators of knife crime, but also more work to deter young people from carrying weapons.

She said: "There needs to be more awareness when it comes to knife crime and how serious knife crime is.

"It's so common now and there definitely needs to be more education in schools about the consequences and effect it can have."