Killer told family of his headaches before death

A MAN who died while serving a life sentence for gunning down his ex-partner in a laundrette complained of having headaches to family during prison visits, a coroner has heard.

Convicted killer Fred McClenaghan was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast after falling ill in Magilligan Prison in October 2018.

Mcclenaghan had been jailed for 13 years for shooting Marion Millican, his former girlfriend, at point blank range after entering the Portstewart laundrette where she had worked on March 11, 2011.

The 57-year-old had initially claimed that the killing of Mrs Millican was an accident committed while he botched his own suicide.

The Co Londonderry murderer was twice convicted and jailed for life for the shooting before having the verdicts overturned on appeal.

However, in September 2017, he finally admitted that he murdered Mrs Millican and was handed a life sentence.

The murder trial had heard Mcclenaghan’s rel ati onship with Mrs Millican — a 51-year-old mother-of-four — had been one which had been categorised by “violence”.

It was revealed that at the time of her murder, Mrs Millican — who had separated with McClenaghan in December 2010 — was in the process of reconciling with her husband.

At the time of Mcclenaghan’s death, the Northern Ireland Prison Service confirmed that a 57-year-old man had died in custody, revealing the PSNI, coroner and Prisoner Ombudsman had all been informed.

Yesterday at a preliminary inquest hearing, conducted remotely, Mcclenaghan’s sister, Tilly Love, told Coroner Patrick Mcgurgan that her brother had spoken of experiencing headaches during family visits.

“Any time we went to visit Frederick he complained of headaches constantly. When he was on the phone to us, again, headaches, headaches,” she said.

She said that family members advised him to seek medical assistance and had been given painkillers, adding she was querying why a CT scan was not carried out given family medical history.

The Coroner said it was a “matter that could be explored” further by the inquest, adding the family could raise any other issues in writing to him.

The full inquest will be heard by a jury in accordance with established legal protocol in relation to prison deaths.

A further preliminary hearing is to take place on Thursday, November 12.