Sophie Doughty

Sophie Doughty is the crime reporter for the Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun, covering Newcastle and the North East. In a year in which the region was hit by a series of tragic knife killings, Sophie was determined to tell the real heart-breaking human stories behind these incidents. When 14-year-old Gordon Gault died in hospital six days after he was stabbed to death in Newcastle, Sophie was the first person to speak to his grieving mum, Dionne Barrett. After Sophie spent weeks gaining Dionne's trust the mum agreed to share harrowing pictures of Gordon lying in his hospital bed to encourage witnesses to come forward. This led to a powerful front page and a story which generated huge engagement on social media and prompted witnesses to speak to police.

Gordon's death was also one of the tragedies which sparked the Chronicle's Stop Knives Taking Lives campaign, which Sophie launched and led. Using contacts built up over 17 years she has highlighted the issue of knife crime through the families affected, and encouraged victims' families to tell their stories for the first time.

This year Sophie was also able to secure an exclusive interview with Lawrence Crook, whose mentally ill sister, Odessa Carey killed and beheaded their mother after a series of failings in her care. This became one of the biggest stories in the region. Sophie was able to build a rapport with Lawrence, which enabled her to persuade him to speak about this highly sensitive case. And during her interviews she asked him the difficult question so many Chronicle readers will have wondered about. How did Lawrence feel about his sister now, and did he still love her? The brutal and distressing nature nature of this killing made this interview incredibly sensitive and Sophie had to make sure Laurence understood his family's grief was not going to be sensationalised in a gory story as had happened in the past. As well as telling the stories of victim's and their families Sophie has also been able to shed light on the other side of crime, by speaking to the criminals themselves.

This year she secured an exclusive interview with prisoner Danny Weatherson just days after he was released from a 17 year prison sentence. Danny told Sophie of his struggles to adapt to life outside prison. Sophie had to gain the trust of Danny's family before his release and help him put his experiences into words after he was freed. Reach Plc's Chief Digital Publisher, David Higgerson, described the story as 'remarkable'.