Three people are behind bars after pleading guilty to killing a man in revenge for a knife attack that left one of them injured.
Adam Thomson, 30, was chased down the street in Hartlepool during the early hours by two men armed with knives while a woman tried to run him down with a car.
Eventually, the Ford Focus, being driven by mum-of-four Sarah Hadfield, 35, hit Thomson, and he died despite attempts to free him from under the vehicle.
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Teesside Crown Court this week heard that the trouble started when Thomson kicked in the door of his ex-partner’s house at about 3am on January 4 this year.
There was an altercation and the mother of his young daughter was injured, reports Teesside Live.
Thomson later went back to the house and forced his way in again. This time, he had a fight with Anthony Hadfield, 40, who was his ex-partner's new boyfriend.
Anthony Hadfield got hold of a kitchen knife in self-defence, and Thomson left the house with a facial injury.
After Thomson fled, Hadfield rang his sister's boyfriend, Steven Corbett, 31, in what Judge Sara Cockerill KC described as a "call to arms”.
Corbett and Anthony's sister, Sarah, left their kids asleep at home and went to help.
Still in her pyjamas, and driving even though she’d never taken a test, Sarah Hadfield drove at Thomson twice, before reversing and driving in his direction for a final time.
Meanwhile, armed with a steak knife, Corbett chased Thomson down Sydenham Road – soon joined by Anthony Hadfield, who’d got out of the car armed with a kitchen knife.
As he tried to get away, Thomson darted in front of the car and was hit. Although it was travelling slowly, he was trapped underneath.
The court heard that a neighbour came out with a jack and tried to help the killers free Thomson, but without success. The trio ran off when cops arrived soon after, but they were picked up after the incident was caught on CCTV.
All three had denied murder but admitted manslaughter.
Prosecutor David Lamb KC said the attack was a "mob-handed hounding" of the victim.
Mrs Justice Cockerill said she was satisfied that that Thomson's death was down to "bad reactions and decisions" made at a time of "high emotions". She accepted that all three killers had shown genuine remorse.
In mitigation, John Elvidge KC, representing Sarah Hadfield, said her car had been travelling at only about 9mph when it hit Thomson, with the low speed combining "peculiarly" with the victim catching his foot on the ground to pull him under the vehicle.
Peter Makepeace KC, for Anthony Hadfield, said he was initially acting in "lawful defence", but he accepted that no longer applied when he began to give chase.
And Dapinder Singh KC, for Corbett, said his client had backed away during the chase and had then tried to get the car off the victim.
In a statement read to the court, Thomson's mother Joanne said her "happy memories" of her son had been replaced by "images no mother should ever have to see".
She said her son’s daughter was only three when he died and they "adored being together", adding: "Her future memories have been taken away from her by you."
All three defendants had multiple convictions for previous crimes.
Sarah Hadfield was jailed for five years 11 months, Anthony Hadfield for seven years and seven months, and Corbett for five years and a month.
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