Gordon Gault: 'Don't pick up a weapon', pleads mother of teenager killed with machete

The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed with a machete has said that carrying weapons destroys lives after two teenagers were found guilty of her son's manslaughter.

Gordon Gault was stabbed by Carlos Neto in the Elswick area of Newcastle on 9 November 2022 amidst a backdrop of 'tit-for-tat' violence between feuding teenage gangs.

He died in hospital six days later.

Neto, who said he acted in self defence, and friend Lawson Natty, who supplied the machete, were cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court on 15 January.

Four other teenagers were found not guilty of murder and acquitted at the same time. Six other youths from another group pleaded guilty to affray during a connected trial.

On 8 March at the same court, 18-year-old Neto was sentenced to nine years two months for manslaughter.

Natty, also 18, was sentenced to 32 months for his part in the attack which saw another boy unlawfully wounded.

Gordon's mother Dionne Barrett has called her son's killers sentences "a bit disappointing".

Outside of Newcastle Crown Court, she said: "Neto will be out by the time he's 25. Gordon's not going to have that chance.

"I think it should have been made more clear in court that Gordon was never ever involved in the tit-for-tat violence, Carlos getting stabbed, or any of the other fights beforehand.

"Gordon's only involvement was that night and nothing else apart from that.

"Please don't ever ever pick up a weapon. It destroys everybody's life."

She also paid tribute to her son saying: "Gordon lit up the room everyday, every time Gordon left the house he went 'mam I love you'.

"Only two weeks before he died, he met a child in care, gave him his money box, his playstation, clothes.

"He was always happy, he was never ever sad."

Following sentencing, Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Matt Steel, of Northumbria Police, said: "This is an extremely tragic case in which a teenager had his future taken away.

"Violence has absolutely no place in our communities - the impact as we have seen with this case can be utterly devastating.

"The lives of the two people who have been jailed for his manslaughter and those who care about them have also been changed forever by the decisions they made."

He also called on society to work together to reduce the impact of knife crime and prevent incidents from happening.

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