Lie sparked slaughter of family

Crampton denied four counts of murder

When his ex-girlfriend lied about seeing someone else, spurned taxi driver Neil Crampton was sent into a murderous rage which left an entire family dead.

Desperate to get him out of her life, Funke Sobo, 36, told him she was seeing another man.

It was a fatal mistake, as her unbalanced ex-partner claimed he was driven by "extreme possessiveness."

Neighbours heard loud thumping and banging noises coming from the four-bedroom house in Hawthorn Gardens, Gosforth, Newcastle, where the pair were furiously arguing.

They also heard screams of "No, No" as Crampton slashed and stabbed Ms Sobo to death.

She put up a fight, as did their daughter Abigail, 12, and Funke's brother Yemi, 44.

Crampton's other child with Ms Sobo, Steven, five, did not get a chance to fight back.

He was killed as he slept.

All four died of multiple stab and slash wounds

Crampton then called police and said: "I have murdered my entire family."

By the time police arrived Crampton had fled. They were confronted with a scene of carnage which sickened even the most experienced officers.

Funke was lying in the hall with her brother next to her near the dining room.

Abigail and Steven were both lying on their bedroom floors upstairs.

Detective Superintendent Steve Wade, who led the investigation, said: "The crime scene was one of carnage.

"Photographs of a happy family unit were everywhere. You could easily imagine the laughter and joy which filled this house.

"Instead there was only silence and the abiding memory of the sheer waste of human life."

'Shared grief'

Just as the area was being sealed off, the children's grandmother Tunde Sobo returned from a trip to Nigeria.

Crampton was later picked up on CCTV going into B & Q where he bought a knife which he used to try and cut his wrists.

He later told police he also tried to hang and drown himself in two other botched, half-hearted suicide attempts.

Our grandchildren were our future - Neil has taken our future away but he's still our son and we must keep sight of that Crampton's parents, Bill and Anne

The prosecution told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court the killings were carried out because Crampton wanted to "destroy what he could never possess" after learning his on-off relationship was finally off.

He was arrested at the home of his parents, Bill and Anne Crampton, at Winlaton in Gateshead.

They had just come back from buying Christmas presents for their two grandchildren.

In a statement they said: "We had Neil and then we had our grandchildren and they were our future.

"It's gone now, Neil has taken that away but he's still our son and we must keep sight of that.

"We treated Liz as our daughter-in-law and we cherish the memory of Abigail and Steven. We share the grief of the Sobo family, it's our grief also."