Mother of murdered teenager wants to meet her daughter's killer

Jenny Finnegan with youngest daughter Kristy (18) and petition organiser Sharon Potter (Paul Vicente)

Warped double killer Daniel Johnson, 32, savagely strangled, beat and stabbed tragic Gemma, believing she was possessed by the devil.

He attacked his 24-year-old girlfriend 14 times with at least three different knives at the home they shared on Friday, September 13, 2013.

Evil Johnson – who had previously been sentenced to life for murder in 1996 – was jailed for 20 years after admitting Gemma’s manslaughter through diminished responsibility.

However her grieving mum Jenny said she was still “in the dark” about the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death – and vowed to visit the killer in jail to demand answers.

“I want to meet him and need to look him in the eye,” said Jenny, 45. “I want him to face the music.

“We are in the process of setting that up but we have to get in touch with the Prison Service to make sure it is okay with him – it is still all about him really.

“There are still a lot of unanswered questions about how and why he killed Gemma.”

Gemma’s family say it was “weeks” after her death they realised the true extent of Johnson’s violent past.

At just 16 he had been jailed for 12 years for the frenzied murder of David Younas, 33, who was stabbed to death in front of his helpless girlfriend as they strolled home from a night out at a sports and social club.

Jenny, a mum-of-three, of Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, said: “Gemma always thought that Danny had gone to prison because three kids were fighting and one got killed.

“The probation service came out to see us and asked us what we’d heard and we told them.

“They didn’t dispute what we’d said or tell us what actually happened.

“We found out through a detective, who was on the first murder case, weeks after Gemma had died.

“We couldn’t believe it.”

Jenny added: “If we’d had a better picture of what he’d done, we could have done something to protect Gemma.

“She had a right to live and he took that right away.”

Johnson first started a five-year relationship with Gemma after he had been freed from prison on license.

But in the days leading up to the shocking killing, the 32-year-old schizophrenic turned from a doting partner into a monster with a look of “pure evil”.

He stabbed Gemma to death at the home they had shared for three years in Boldon Colliery, South Tyneside.

He then drove to his old school in Newcastle, broke in and was arrested after being found wandering around stripped to the waist, smeared in blood.

Judge Mr Justice Green ordered he be locked up for 20 years after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court in 2014.

A damning official review concluded last year that tragic Gemma was let down because of a breakdown in communication between the authorities and her family.

Probation officials insist the family were told about the previous murder but admitted in a Domestic Homicide Review that there are no official records of the conversation.

The review also highlighted “significant failures” in records being passed to Johnson’s GP after he’d finished his previous jail term and failure to carry out drug testing.

The report stated that, although Gemma’s death could not have been predicted, it was impossible to say whether it could have been prevented.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Public protection is our priority. A review found this case was managed sufficiently, but also raised areas for improvement that have since been addressed by the Probation Service.”