The mother of murdered Swindon teenager Owen Dunn has told how she discovered her son was dead after seeing rumours on Facebook.
She added that she then tried to break through a police cordon, screaming that she believed his body was inside the forensic tent.
Zoe Mitchell, 51, said social media was “all over” with talk of a stabbing in the town on the afternoon of December 4, 2022.
As people speculated online, she spent hours desperately trying to contact her 18‑year‑old son, who had gone out on his bike to meet his girlfriend.
“I got a phone call from my sister asking ‘where is Owen?’” she recalled. “I didn’t think too much of it, but then my son had a call asking, ‘Is it true about Owen?’ and that is when the penny dropped.”
Zoe jumped in the car with her family and drove the short five‑minute journey to the scene in Swindon, following the same chatter she had seen on Facebook. When she arrived, she was confronted by a blue forensic tent and police tape.
“I went to the tent and tried to run under the police cordon. I just screamed, ‘I think you’ve got my son there,’” she said. “We went to them, they didn’t come to us. We had been ringing him and he was not answering.”
A police officer told her to sit in a car and wait. “I knew then that it was Owen,” she said. “I think I just went into shock, and my son had a panic attack. It’s not something you would ever expect to see in a million years.”
Owen had been cycling to see his girlfriend when he was ambushed by two balaclava‑clad teenagers on e‑bikes.
CCTV later showed Tyler Hunt throwing his bike in front of Owen to block his path, before a then‑15‑year‑old boy swung at him with a machete, delivering a single blow that pierced his heart.
Both were found guilty of murder after a three‑week trial at Bristol Crown Court in December 2023. Hunt, now 17, is serving at least 19 years. His co‑defendant, now named as 18‑year‑old Ciaran Newman, is partway through a 12‑year sentence.
Newman’s identity was initially protected by reporting restrictions under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, which barred the media from naming him because he was under 18 and involved in other legal proceedings.
That anonymity has now been lifted as he has turned 18, allowing him to be publicly identified for the first time.
Zoe says finally seeing Newman named has brought little comfort – but has hardened her view that youths convicted of murder should be identified straight away.
“Once they’ve been found guilty they should be named regardless of age,” she said.
“More and more young kids are going out stabbing people and there’s no deterrent. If they were identified on conviction, that would go a long way to making kids and even their parents stop and think.
“I used to think ‘a child is a child’, but when you’re in my shoes, you realise it’s not fair. His name has been slandered, slated and scrutinised with speculations that are untrue, while Ciaran has been protected.”
Zoe says she is “glad” Newman can now be named and wants to campaign for a change in the law so judges apply naming consistently and youth killers are treated more like adults.
But she added: “It’s too little, too late. I thought it was going to give me more closure now that his name is out there. But it hasn’t. It has just stirred up all the emotions and I’ve been reliving the trial again.”
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