内容摘要：His target - the most vulnerable people in society, young children - appeared to have been chosen to create the maximum horror and disgust.

His target - the most vulnerable people in society, young children - appeared to have been chosen to create the maximum horror and disgust.

"I feel like they have taken my life away," the woman said, adding she no longer felt safe leaving the house, always feared she was being followed and would "second guess genuine people all the time".Her partner said he feared for his wife's mental health and had paid £900 to install heightened security in a bid to "make us feel safe in our own home".

In mitigation, the court heard Morrison had been using crack cocaine since the age of 12 and was following his stepfather Irving.Irving was a former heroin user who began taking drugs again after family deaths and at the time of the offence was trying to get mental health help, the court heard.Burrows was a "young immature man" who was just helping out his friend Morrison but "naively" did not ask any questions, the court was told.

Heavily convicted Irving, of Midway in Walker, was jailed for three years and 11 months, while Morrison, of McIlvenna Gardens in Wallsend, also admitted making threats with a bladed article and was jailed for two years and 10 months.Burrows, of Cedarwood Avenue in Newcastle, was jailed for 18 months suspended for two years with 100 hours unpaid work

Judge Rippon said the incident "must have been the longest couple of minutes" of the victims' lives, adding: "A couple of minutes can last forever."

When detailing the impact the ordeal had had on the pair, the judge told the trio "you did that", and said: "I can't begin to comprehend how terrifying it must have been."In a speech, he said the party had came "within a whisker" of winning the North Tyneside mayoral contest in a Labour heartland and had "frightened the life out of the governing Conservatives" in Northumberland.

The count had faced a delay owing to a discrepancy between previously announced vote and turnout figures.Initially announced as 31%, the turnout was later confirmed to be 33%, the

Elsewhere, the Conservatives remain the biggest party on Northumberland County Council. The council remains under no overall control.