Troubled Durham teenager guilty of assault

Nov 1 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Sick crime shocked the world

MUM-of-four Julie Paterson was killed in 1998 by loner David Harker who claimed he had eaten parts of her remains.

Her torso was found in a bin liner in the garden of a derelict house, yet Harker has refused repeated appeals to reveal what happened to the rest of Julie’s body.

Detectives searched through 20,000 tonnes of rubbish at Coxhoe tip in County Durham, in the hope of finding Julie’s head and limbs. They were never found.

Harker denied murder at Teesside Crown Court, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was jailed for life in 1999 with a judge’s recommendation that his case should not be reviewed by the parole board for at least 14 years.

Channel Five later screened a documentary about Harker which explored the trail of devastation Julie’s murder left in its wake. Her boyfriend, Alan Taylor, was convicted in 2007 of strangling a drinking buddy with a belt.

After he was arrested, he told police he wanted to be jailed so he could exact his revenge on his girlfriend’s killer.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years in prison, but took his own life three months later in Holme House Prison, near Stockton.

Durham-born Julie lived with Freddie Newman for six years as man and wife before they split up and Julie moved to the Darlington area.

Mr Newman, father of Julie’s daughter Sophie and Freddie Jnr, also committed suicide after failing to cope with her death.

Sophie, now 18 and living under a secret name, wrote to Harker in prison, telling him he had destroyed her family members’ lives.