2 days Ago By [email protected] (Esther Halligan)
2024 saw three Teesside murderers jailed - and each of their crimes were as shocking and violent, and as different from each other, as it is possible to be. Hartlepool hit the headlines around the world, after it emerged that an asylum seeker who had been housed there, stabbed an innocent pensioner, later saying it was revenge over Gaza. A van driver who had been up all night taking drugs, drove straight at an innocent man who was walking home after a night out.
Martin Breeze, 57, ditched his work van and pretended it had been stolen, after he realised he had killed his victim. Glenna Siviter was a grandmother, who was very much loved. Her son found her body "hidden like rubbish" under her sofa.
Ms Siviter's killer, Andrew Hall, is now serving a life sentence. Ahmed Alid, 45, continuously watched the news coverage of Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack, in October 2023. As innocent children were killed in Gaza, the Moroccan asylum seeker was heard shouting in Arabic, in the kitchen of his shared home in Hartlepool - where he had been housed temporarily as the Home Office processed his asylum application.
The Muslim extremist tried to kill his housemate - who had converted to Christianity and left the Muslim faith behind. Moments later, at around 5.30am on October 15 2023, Alid walked out onto the street and stabbed a pensioner to death.
Terence Carney, 70, was out on his regular morning walk. He was a stranger to Alid - but Alid launched a frenzied knife attack on him anyway - later saying he had killed the pensioner because so many innocent people were being killed in Gaza. Alid told the police that he wanted Palestine to be free of "Zionists.
" He said he would have killed "more people" if he hadn't injured himself whilst stabbing Mr Carney. But throughout his trial, Alid claimed that he hadn't intended to kill Mr Carney . The jury at Teesside Crown Court heard about Alid's life before he came to Britain.
He had been roaming around Europe for 13 years - making asylum claims in Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Greece. The former shop owner, who was brought up in Algeria after leaving Morocco at a young age, failed in his quest to live and open a shop in Europe. In 2020, he took a ferry to the UK from Amsterdam.
He claimed asylum in Britain, but was still waiting for a response when he stabbed Mr Carney six times in the street. Alid was a devout Muslim. He prayed five times a day and became angry when his housemates, who were also asylum seekers, brought women back to the house on Wharton Terrace, or drank alcohol.
His Iranian housemate Javed Nouri said that Alid would constantly check the news on his phone and "he was laughing and every time they would kill somebody, he would praise God." Mr Nouri contacted his property management company and the police - to say that he thought his life, and the life of others in the house, were in danger. He told the authorities that Alid kept a kitchen knife with him, at all times.
Accommodation staff warned Alid to behave and the police closed the matter. Alid was found by the judge to have murdered Mr Carney in a terrorist act - in revenge "for the actions of Israel and to intimidate the British government in it's international relations. You hoped to frighten the people of Britain and to undermine the freedoms they enjoy.
" Alid was jailed for 45-years , in May, for the murder of Mr Carney and the attempted murder of his housemate, Javed Nouri. Martin Breeze received a call from his son Shaun on Friday, February 9. Shaun, 30, was panicking, he said he was being chased by some men and he had come off his bike.
Martin Breeze was at home in Ingleby Barwick taking drugs. Shaun had gone out to buy more cocaine. Martin Breeze's life had descended into a mess after his relationship broke down, Covid saw his business go, his house was set to be re-possessed.
He was spending thousands of pounds on drugs. He saw red. He got into his work van, which was not insured, and went to pick up Shaun.
His son pointed out the group of people he had argued with and the two men who had chased him down a footpath. Shaun had cycled though the group, who were walking home from a night out. Words were exchanged and two of the group chased Shaun Breeze.
After colliding with another pedestrian, Shaun Breeze came off his push bike and abandoned it in favour of running, as the pursuit continued. Martin Breeze, 57, high on drugs and hell-bent on revenge, mounted a grass verge off Myton Way and drove directly at the group of friends. Brian Darby, 60, was carried on top of the bonnet before falling off onto the carriageway, 150 metres away from the crash.
Mr Darby was killed instantly. Three other members of the group were seriously injured in the collision. Prosecutors told the jury that Martin Breeze had deliberately driven at the group of pals out of revenge; and that Shaun Breeze had identified the group and encouraged his dad.
The father and son drove off and abandoned their van after the crash. Shaun Breeze later called the police to say that the van had been stolen earlier that night. Martin Breeze, of Irthing Close in Ingleby Barwick, was convicted of the murder of Mr Darby and four counts of attempted murder.
Shaun was found guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Darby; three counts of grievous bodily harm with intent; and one count of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent. Both men were found guilty of perverting the course of justice, after lying about the van being stolen. In October, Shaun Breeze, of Owls Grove in Ingleby Barwick, successfully appealed some of his convictions .
The attempted grievous bodily harm conviction was quashed at the Court of Appeal. Three convictions for causing grievous bodily harm with intent - when the father and son left members of the group seriously injured - were downgraded to GBH, without the intent. Shaun Breeze' manslaughter conviction remains.
Martin and Shaun Breeze will be back at Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced in the New Year. Andrew Hall murdered his friend, a woman he had known since childhood and who Newcastle Crown Court heard was "like a sister" to him. Glenna Siviter, 50, was vulnerable.
She had returned to Middlesbrough , from the Channel Islands, in 2017. Ms Siviter had moved away from drugs and enjoyed life in Jersey where she worked in banking, but she came home after her mother died. Hall, 47, of Thorntree Avenue in Brambles Farm, stabbed his friend 36 times, in the early hours of December 11, 2023.
He visited Ms Siviter at her home on Grimwood Avenue, Brambles Farm, at 3am, before launching a ferocious attack. A post mortem found that Ms Siviter had been stabbed in her heart, lung, back of her neck and through her arm. Hall then hid his friend's body under her sofa.
Ms Siviter lived alone in the house she had inherited from her mother and had descended back into heroin and crack cocaine addiction, following the death of her aunt Joan- who she had lived with in Jersey. Hall, who worked in construction, needed cash for drugs. He stole Ms Siviter's jewellery which he sold for crack cocaine, before going on to attack two other men.
Hall's partner gave evidence during the trial, she said that Ms Siviter was "like a sister" to Hall; and that she and Hall had tried to help Ms Siviter detox from the drugs. Glenna Siviter's body hidden under her sofa, and was discovered by her son Declan , who let himself into his mum's home on December 15, after not hearing from her for two weeks. Hall was jailed for life , with a minimim term of 36 years - for the murder of Ms Siviter; the attempted murder of Craig Woodier; and for wounding with intent, after he attacked a second man, Samuel Harker, hours after the murder.
Ms Siviter's son, Declan, stood up in court and said: "What he has done to my family - mentally - is despicable. To find my mother hidden like rubbish under the settee, left to rot. Andrew Hall should never be let back out in public for as long as he breathes.
He is a lying, sneaky little rodent of a man, who sold jewellery, not scrap by the way, all for a rock of crack." For crime news in your area direct to your inbox every day, go here to sign up to our free newsletter Teesside Live is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community. Through the app, we'll send you the latest breaking news, top stories, exclusives and much more straight to your phone.
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