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‘BATTLE TO SURVIVE’
I may as well be dead after my daughter was murdered, I’m serving the real life sentence, not her killer
A TORMENTED mum has told how her teen daughter's killer may as well have murdered her too as she "battles" to survive every day.
Joseph Trevor, then 19, knifed 18-year-old Megan Newton nine times in the back and brutally raped her after she kindly offered him a place to stay for the night.
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He was then caught on CCTV fleeing her flat in Newcastle-under-Lyme while looking at his bloodied hands.
But just hours before the gruesome killing in April 2019, Trevor, who knew Megan from school, had been allowed to walk free from custody after he was detained for possession of drugs.
Megan's mum Sarah Newton has now told of her pain at losing her beloved daughter.
Speaking to The Sun Online, she said: "It’s an ongoing battle just to survive every day. He literally may as well have ended my life too.
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“I’ve been on permanent antidepressants, I’ve struggled at work.
“I don’t think I’d be alive if it wasn’t for the support of my family
and my workplace.
“Trevor is in prison but I’m serving the life sentence. My home is my
prison. I barely go out of the house.
“I sit in the dark and think about Megan.
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“Sometimes I’ll look out of the front window and convince myself
she’ll come bounding through the front door.
“She was so heavy-footed - she couldn’t be quiet if she tried. And now
the house is so quiet.
“One of the worst things is that all Megan’s friends are having babies
now, or going to university. She’d be 21 now and in the prime of her
life.
“I’m not going to have grandchildren now. She was my only child. I’ve
been denied the right of being a mum and a grandmother.
“I can never forgive Trevor for that.”
On the night Megan was killed, drug-addled Trevor, who had taken ketamine and possibly cocaine, had been spotted hiding a bag of white powder down his trousers and the police were called.
The semi-pro footballer was then taken to the station where he was searched before being allowed back out on the streets to continue his night out with pals.
It was then unwitting Megan invited Trevor back to her flat as an "act of kindness" because he was too scared to face his cop parents.
'CRUCIFIES ME'
Chilling CCTV showed the pair smiling as they arrived at the home before Trevor unleashed into his gruesome attack.
The monster raped terrified Megan before stabbing her nine times in the back.
He then left her to die on her bloodied bed as he fled the home and chucked her keys in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Sarah said: “If I think about him I think about he took her life and that just crucifies me.
"In the last 30 minutes of her life she must have been so afraid.
“I think he killed her because he wanted sex and she said ‘no’. He
wouldn’t accept it for an answer and then there was no stopping him."
After murdering Megan, Trevor was found by police sitting on a bridge - sparking concerns for his welfare.
He was eventually arrested after Megan's mutilated body was discovered by a neighbour.
Trevor also confessed to friends he had "done something bad".
'LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME'
It later emerged he had been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl - leading to school pals giving him the grim nickname "Rolf Harris" - but the case was never prosecuted.
Sarah, who recently appeared in Sky Crime documentary What the Killer Did Next, told of her rage when Trevor pleaded guilty to murder.
She said he mouthed "sorry" to her as he was taken down to the cells as though he had just spilled a drink on the grieving mum or accidentally knocked her.
The mum added: "I had never felt so angry in my life. I wanted to jump across at him.
“It made my blood boil. It completely destroyed me.”
In February 2020, Trevor was sentenced to 21 years and 65 days after admitting murder and two counts of rape.
This means the killer could be back on the streets by the time he turns 40.
Speaking of her struggle to cope with Megan's death, Sarah said: "I used to be confident but it’s like a light switched off inside me.
“I went for months without leaving the house. Even now it’s a daily battle.
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“When I have a good time I find myself feeling guilty for smiling.
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“Life will never be the same again - all because of him.”
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