ROT IN HELL
Anger in court as evil Eric Locke is sentenced to life for hotel murder of a ‘wonderful mum’
A SOBBING boy cried out for his “wonderful” mum and asked why she wasn’t coming home in the days after her violent murder, a court heard yesterday. Sonia Blount organised a Toy Storythemed birthday party for three-year-old Jake to take place just hours before she was strangled and suffocated by evil Eric Locke. The 35-year-old received a mandatory life sentence at the Central Criminal Court yesterday. As he was being led away a friend of the 31-year-old mother of one shouted: “Rot in hell you scumbag.” In a harrowing victim impact statement, Sonia’s sister Claire Reddan said Jake was upset and confused after the tragedy. She added: “He said, ‘My daddy left me and my mammy promised she would never leave me’. “At night he would sob for her as Jake used to sleep with her and she would soothe him to sleep.” She said she explained to her nephew: “Holy God needed a very special angel and he chose your mammy.” Claire, who is now raising Jake, said the family received help from a child psychiatrist about breaking the news of the murder to the boy. She described how Sonia had gone all out to make sure her son had the perfect birthday and added: “He didn’t stop smiling all day. “The next day he started to wonder why his mammy wasn’t coming to pick him up. “We had to tell him your mammy is an angel now, she had to go to heaven.” Mr Justice Michael Moriarty described losing his mum as an “unspeakable tragedy” for Jake. Sister Tracy Blount told how Sonia was “taken in the most violent way with no regard for the life of a wonderful mother, daughter, sister and aunt or for her family”. She said they had many unanswered questions about their “innocent, kind, caring” sister such as how much did she suffer or what her final words were. Sadistic Locke, of St John’s Park East in Clondalkin, West Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the murder, claiming he was suffering from a mental disorder and this diminished his responsibility. But he was unanimously convicted by a jury of the murder after an 11-day trial. The sadistic killer strangled his ex-girlfriend with her phone charger cable – then suffocated Sonia by shoving her T-shirt into her mouth with such force he broke her teeth. During the sentencing hearing the court heard how numerous bones in the victim’s neck were broken in the vicious attack at the Plaza Hotel, Tallaght, South Dublin, on February 16, 2014. Locke appeared in court unshaven, dressed in a grey shirt and tie and looked downwards while Ms Blount’s sisters described the family’s grief. He showed little emotion but uttered another “I’m sorry” towards the Blount family after twice saying the same words when he was found guilty on Monday. The monster met Sonia in October 2013 when he began working in the glue factory where she had been employed for nearly a decade. They dated for a brief period but the trial heard she ended their relationship the day after they had an argument at a comedy gig in January 2014. Locke sent her hundreds of text messages but she eventually blocked him from her social media account. But he set up a fake Facebook profile under the name Shane Cully, which he used to meet her. The psycho sent Sonia several messages as Cully and asked her to leave the room keycard at the hotel’s reception so she would not look through the peephole when he knocked the door. Garda Jennifer Brogan agreed with prosecuting lawyer Remy Farrell that Sonia “had been in fear of her life” over Locke and was “under severe stress”.