Mum reveals horror when told son had been stabbed to death by boy, 16

The mother of a father-of-four stabbed to death near his home has revealed the horrifying moment she discovered he had been murdered by a 16-year-old boy.

James Gibbons, 34, was knifed four times on the day of his twin daughters’ second birthday party after challenging a group of youths harassing a homeless man.

The plumber, whose children were aged seven, five and twin two-year-olds at the time, was yards from his home in Laindon, Essex, when he was stabbed in May 2021.

Joshuah Sparks was found guilty of murder despite claiming he acted in self-defence and was sentenced to at least 13 years in custody in December that year.

Now, Mr Gibbons’s mother Wendy Richards has spoken in a new episode of Channel 4 series Social Media Monsters about learning he had been killed by the teenager.

She said: ‘We knew now that the police had someone in custody and it was a 16-year-old that killed my son. It’s beyond belief. What is happening in this world?’

The documentary also heard from the Essex Police case supervisor who explained that murders committed by young people were becoming increasingly prevalent.

Detective Sergeant Gavin Wiseman said: ‘Joshuah treated his charge like he treated his interviews – he was very relaxed and just took it all in his stride.’

He added: ‘When you embark on a murder investigation and you find out it’s technically a child that’s responsible, it’s always a surprise. 

‘But unfortunately, it’s not a rarity any more – it is becoming more and more prevalent.’

His comments follow a Sky News investigation in September 2024 which found the percentage of homicide convictions going to under-16s compared with other ages had doubled over ten years, from about one in 50 in 2012/13 to one in 25 in 2022/23. 

Retired college lecturer Ms Richards previously said that her son had brought a sleeping bag, pillows and blankets to the homeless man, called Christopher French.

In her victim impact statement, she said Mr Gibbons had been ‘helping look after and protecting a vulnerable person’, adding that the youths ‘acted as a pack’.

Referring to Sparks, Ms Richards said: ‘He’s a monster to me and I will never forgive him.’

A video taken earlier in the day of Mr Gibbons’s death on May 2 showed him bringing a Peppa Pig birthday cake out for his twin daughters as they sat on his partner Victoria Billingham’s lap, and blew out the candles.

Mr Gibbons left his daughters’ birthday barbecue to speak to Mr French outside and give him a burger.

He then returned to his house to tell Ms Billingham that there were a couple of teenagers bullying Mr French and eating his food.

Mr Gibbons – known as ‘Gibbo’ to Mr French – confronted the youths and a few minutes later, a larger group of youths returned who surrounded him.

Mr French said in his evidence that he did not see anybody attack Mr Gibbons but heard a noise and saw him ‘wobbling around’, before falling on the floor as Mr Gibbons walked back from an alleyway.

In the hours after the murder, Sparks was said to have admitted to the stabbing in a message in a Snapchat group, adding: ‘I don’t care, I’m a psychopath.’ 

Sparks then searched online for ‘stabbing in Laindon’ and ‘consequences of accidentally killing someone’ in the early hours of the following morning.

He was arrested at his home address at 5.35am on May 3 and when interviewed by police said that all he knew about the incident was what officers had told him.

In a second interview, Sparks was told that two youths had said he ‘was responsible’ for the incident – but then gave no comment on the advice of a solicitor.

Sparks was named after a High Court judge lifted an anonymity order on the youth defendant during his sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Mr Justice Charles Bourne told the boy at his sentencing hearing: ‘It’s very troubling that there’s really no rational explanation for what you did and the original confrontation really had nothing to do with you at all.

‘What you did is utterly out of proportion to anything done by anyone else involved in the incident, whichever side they were on.’

Christine Agnew QC, defending Sparks, told the hearing that he had no previous convictions but had an ‘unstable upbringing’, and that from the age of 13 he ‘frequently went missing… during that time he slept rough’.

See the full story on Social Media Monsters – streaming now on Channel 4