Gateshead murderer may have tried to decapitate Eve McIntyre with meat cleaver

John Baldwin, who has admitted murdering Eve McIntyre in Gateshead
-Credit:Northumbria Police


A murderer may have tried to decapitate his girlfriend with a meat cleaver in scenes of "indescribable horror".

John Baldwin left Eve McIntyre with 37 wounds to her head, neck and torso during a sustained attack using a cleaver and at least one knife. She was found dead in their ground floor flat in Gateshead, with her hands tied behind her back.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Baldwin had a history of controlling and violent behaviour towards the 57-year-old in the lead up to the murder last August. Now Baldwin, 42, who got on a bus bloodstained, wearing slippers and Ms McIntyre's kimono and carrying the cleaver afterwards, has been jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars.

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As he was sentenced, Ms McIntyre’s daughter, Ashton Ions, went into the witness box to read a victim impact statement. Fighting back tears, she said: “I was and am heartbroken. This was my mam and I loved her deeply.

“I’ve tried to come to terms with what happened. It’s horrific. She was a human being. No one should have to suffer the way she did.

Alleged murder victim Eve McIntyre
Alleged murder victim Eve McIntyre -Credit:handout

"It keeps me awake at night and the unanswered questions torture me. I grieve for the loss of my mam and the loss of the opportunity to build our relationship.

“I’m not the happy, fun person I used to be. I’m the daughter of a woman that was murdered. I can’t imagine what my life will be like going forward without my mam in it.”

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Francis FitzGibbon KC, prosecuting, said the couple lived at Sunderland Road, in Gateshead, and Ms McIntyre had reported his abusive behaviour to neighbours, medical professionals, Gateshead Council and the DWP, but was reluctant to go to the police.

He said: “She complained of beatings, kicking, an attack with a knife, and two attacks with hammers. He exhibited bullying and coercive behaviour. Her neighbours frequently saw bruises and marks of injury on her. On the morning of 21 August 2024 she told a neighbour that he had hit her with a hammer and she wanted to get away."

Ms McIntyre was last seen alive between 10pm and 11pm on 21 August, 2024, when her neighbour came to her door and spoke to her. Just after 11pm, a PC driving home after his shift saw Baldwin, who had consumed heroin, on Sunderland Road, bare legged, wearing Ms McIntyre's kimono and slippers.

Another police vehicle passed him and Baldwin tried to hide. He tried to stop two cars, taking hold of the driver’s door handle of one of them. At about 11:20 he boarded a bus, holding an ornament in his left hand and he moved up and down the bus asking for £2 from passengers.

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He was visibly bloodstained and as the bus approached a stop, he walked up to the driver's cab and said ‘you are not stopping the bus, take me to Birtley’. He tried to reach under the protective plastic screen and had a meat cleaver in his hand.

Mr FitzGibbon said: “He had used the meat cleaver and at least one kitchen knife to attack Ms McIntyre a short while before.” The driver stopped the bus and opened the doors and he ran off.

A passenger called 999 and the driver followed, keeping the bus at a safe distance from him and police attended.. Mr FitzGibbon said: “He ran into the grounds of a care home while police officers chased him. An officer discharged his taser twice but with no effect. The defendant disappeared and hid the meat cleaver under vegetation in a neighbouring garden where the police recovered it the following day.

“He then ran into the street where he was restrained after putting up a violent struggle. A taser was discharged again, and he had to be restrained by the use of PAVA spray and a baton before he could be arrested and detained.”

He gave the police his address at Sunderland Road and officers attended and found Ms McIntyre’s body. Mr FitzGibbon said: “She was lying face down in the living room, dead, with her trousers pulled down revealing her underwear.

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“She had been placed on the seat cushions from a sofa. Her hands were tied behind her back. Her right foot was placed under the leg of a chair. She had the key to the front door in her hand.”

A post mortem revealed she had 37 sharp force injuries to the head, neck and torso, damage to the right carotid artery and jugular vein, a stab wound to the right lung, facial bruises, bruising to the upper limbs, a fracture to her right hand and a fracture to the right thumb.

Mr FitzGibbon said: “There were 20 sharp force injuries to her head and neck.. Two of the neck injuries were deep enough to damage spinal vertebrae, which suggests that the defendant may have been trying to cut Ms McIntyre’s head off.

“These and an injury that caused a partial skull fracture were consistent with the use of a cleaver. There were also six sharp force injuries to her torso. She was covered in bruises all over her head and body.” She died as the result of incised wounds to the head and neck.

DNA analysis of the discarded meat cleaver, knives recovered at Sunderland Road and samples taken from the defendant after arrest, all matched Ms McIntyre’s DNA.

Mr FitzGibbon said: “A crime scene analyst found extensive staining with Ms McIntyre’s blood on walls and other surfaces in the address. A pool of blood on the sofa base, under where the cushions would have been, indicated that she bled heavily while on it, and was moved later. She was found to have no defensive injuries, suggesting that she was incapacitated by the first blow. Her hands may have been tied after she was dead or incapacitated.”

After his arrest, Baldwin referred to Ms McIntyre as a ‘f****** ****’ several times. He maintained that other people, including his upstairs neighbours, entered the flat and attacked them both.

The court heard Baldwin has 12 previous convictions, including for violence, weapons and causing suffering to an animal. He pleaded guilty to murder as his trial was due to start earlier this week, having previously admitted manslaughter, affray and having a bladed article. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years and 162 days.

Mr Justice Constable said Baldwin was “controlling, abusive and violent” and that events on the day he killed her were an “escalation of your pattern of domestic violence against her”. The judge said no one will ever know precisely what happened in the flat but he told Baldwin: “The scene that met those attending the flat following your arrest, bloodstained and in possession of the weapons you had used earlier was one of indescribable horror.”

He added: “The neck injuries, consistent with the use of a meat cleaver, were deep enough to damage spinal vertebrae and suggest you may have been trying to decapitate her.” The judge said he attacked her with “extreme ferocity” using at least one knife and a meat cleaver before tying her up and degrading her body.

Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said: “He is a man of modest intellect. He has to be sentenced for what he did so hideously. This was unplanned, spontaneous and, quite frankly, appalling but nothing like this had been visited upon Ms McIntyre before. This is his first experience in prison.”