Murderer of Sobo family branded as wicked

Nov 27 2008 by Jon Tunney, The Journal

THE mother of a woman killed by quadruple murderer Neil Crampton yesterday labelled him “wicked”. Tunde Sobo told how she had welcomed the 36-year-old into her family, only for him to butcher them in a frenzy of jealous rage.

Crampton yesterday began a minimum 35-year jail term after being convicted of murdering former lover Olufunke Sobo, 36, and their children Abigail, 12, and Steven, five.

He also killed Olufunke’s brother Yemi, 41, at their family home in Hawthorn Gardens, Kenton, in November, 2006. He inflicted more than 300 stab wounds on his four innocent victims.

The verdict marked the end of an agonising two-year wait for justice for Tunde, who returned home from holiday to discover the massacre that had taken place inside her Tyneside home.

The 75-year-old said: “You don’t want to hate people, but sometimes you can’t help it when things like this happen and things drag on for so long.

“All I want to know is why did he do it and no one can explain that to me. It is a wicked, wicked thing. How could he do that to those sweet, sweet children, it is just beyond belief.”

Tunde, who still lives in the 1930s semi where the killings took place, said: “He didn’t have to do it, he could have just walked away from the family and left them all alone. How could I ever change my opinion about it? It is so wicked and I just don’t know how anybody could do that.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard how drug-taking former taxi driver Crampton killed the family because he could not stand the fact Olufunke, also known as Liz, wanted to move on with her life.

Crampton denied murder, claiming he was too mentally unstable to be responsible for his actions, even swotting up on psychiatric disorders while awaiting trial.

Tunde said: “I feel sorry for his parents.”

The 75-year-old, who moved to England from Nigeria in 1956, witnessed first hand how Crampton changed after he started dating her daughter in 1993. By 1994, they had Abigail and were living in Rydal Road, Gosforth. But Liz moved back in with her mum after the relationship started to deteriorate. Tunde said: “He was OK when they first met and they got on fine. But he had a temper, he always had a temper. After Steven was born, she told him it wasn’t working.

“She was getting on with her life but he wasn’t getting on with his. I always knew he had a temper but he never hit her back then. I do remember going to the flat once and finding a glass door smashed.

“You think your daughter has met someone from a nice background, with a nice family, then they go on to do something so wicked like this. All I keep thinking is why? How could he do that and especially to those beautiful, precious children?”

Tunde said: “All she wanted was a life of her own without any worries about him and he was supposed to go his own way and see the children whenever he wanted to.

“She always said he was their father after all and she let him see them whenever he wanted, but he just would not walk away.”