Judge slams drill music for stoking machete feud horror

A JUDGE has criticised drill music as a 'pernicious genre' after it played a role in stoking violence between two gangs which led to a 14-year-old being fatally stabbed in the street.

- JOHN and TOM WILKINSON

Gordon Gault was stabbed on the arm with a machete as he rode on the back of a friend's e-bike in Newcastle's West End in November 2022 and died six days later in hospital.

The deadly attack, which also saw one of his associates slashed in the back, happened when two rival gangs from Benwell and Elswick went out looking for each other. Six teenagers went on trial at Newcastle Crown Court and were cleared of murder, but Carlos Neto, 18, of Salford, Greater Manchester, and Lawson Natty, 18, of Newbiggin Hall, Newcastle, were convicted of manslaughter.