Mum of fatally stabbed Connor Brown makes knife plea as she lends support to Jack Woodley's mother

Connor Brown and Jack Woodley were both 18 when they died as a result of fatal stab wounds. Credit: Family photos

The mother of a murdered Sunderland teenager is once again urging youngsters to stay away from knives after supporting the family of Jack Woodley.

Tanya Brown's son Connor was stabbed five times outside a pub in the city and died an hour later in hospital in 2019.

The 18-year-old was trying to break up a fight that had started between young lads in an alleyway when he was fatally stabbed in the chest.

Three years on and Mrs Brown has been giving her support to a fellow Wearside woman who now shares her painful experience.

Zoey McGill is the mother of 18-year-old Jack Woodley who was stabbed and murdered by a group of ten teenagers in Houghton le Spring.

She and Mrs Brown were in touch soon after Jack's death in October 2021.

Speaking of the attack on Jack, Mrs Brown said: "I didn't want to believe it was real, and didn't want to believe it had happened again."

She told ITV News Tyne Tees that her advice to Mrs McGill was to "breathe and take each moment as it came".

'In a blink of an eye that knife can change everything'

Mrs Brown said: "It's heartbreaking to hear her sometimes."

With her own grief to contend with, Mrs Brown has been working to prevent knife crime via the the Connor Brown Trust.

She said she had one simple message for everyone: "Don't take a knife, don't take a knife out with you, don't own a knife and don't buy the knife. Just do not take that knife.

"In a blink of an eye that knife can change everything."