Casual knife killer
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A JEALOUS former partner who stabbed Alyson Nelson to death over her new relationship will spend the next 20 years in jail.
Mr Justice O’hara told William Finlay that was the minimum period he’d be behind bars before he was eligible for parole.
Finlay, 68, of Old Forde Gardens, Whitehead, Co Antrim, had previously pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court to murdering retired nurse Ms Nelson on April 16, 2022.
The mum-of-four was stabbed seven times in less than a minute in her Whitehead home and the offence was aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse.
As the brute was sentenced, police released CCTV footage showing Finlay calmly walking from Ms Nelson’s home as he wiped clean the knife used to murder her.
The conviction was the first in the North to be aggravated by domestic abuse and came after the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 became law in February 2022.
After Finlay was told of his fate, Ms Nelson’s family released a statement in which they said that on “Saturday the 16th of April 2022 our lives changed forever”.
They added: “Our beautiful mum Alyson was brutally murdered in her own home, the very place she should have felt most safe and secure. That day she was stolen away from us forever.”
It was the prosecution case that after meeting online, Finlay and Ms Nelson, 64, started a relationship in December 2018 which ended 18 months before he killed her.
In April 2022, Ms Nelson was in a new relationship, and it was Finlay’s jealousy which prompted his actions on the evening of Saturday, April 16, 2022. Finlay, who spent 25 years in the Navy, was captured on her Ring doorbell footage entering Ms Nelson’s Victoria Avenue home.
Around 60 seconds later, he was again captured exiting.
Crown barrister David Mcdowell KC revealed that on the day she was murdered, Ms Nelson and her new partner had been out in a local pub enjoying drinks before Finlay arrived in the bar.
CCTV footage from the pub showed the former couple engaged in a brief conversation.
A short time after this, Ms Nelson left on her own and went home. At around 6pm, a worker in a chip shop opposite Ms Nelson’s home noticed a hooded man, dressed all in black, entering her property.
Mr Mcdowell said this same woman then heard what she described as a “massive scream that seemed to go on forever”.
She saw the same male leaving the house and as he had his hood down, she recognised him as William Finlay and thought he had a knife in his hand. Believing the screaming was from Ms Nelson, the woman and a colleague crossed the road and wrapped her door.
The prosecutor said that after she managed to open the door, she found Ms Nelson lying facedown in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.
At this stage she was breathing and had a weak pulse.
The emergency services includ- ing the Air Ambulance were called and when they arrived at 6.20pm, Ms Nelson was unresponsive.
Mr Mcdowell said: “All efforts were made to revive her, but to no avail.”
Police were directed to Finlay’s address and as they approached his door, they saw him with a bottle of cleaning fluid in his hand.
When he saw them, Finlay said: “It’s me you’re looking for. I’m here.”
He was arrested and a number of items including blood-stained clothing and shoes, gloves and a cloth were located in his property.
The murder weapon, which was taken from a knife block in his kitchen, was also recovered.
Whilst being taken to Antrim Police Station, Finlay told police: “I’m not going to deny anything.”
Mr Mcdowell said it appeared Finlay was “unable to accept his relationship with Ms Nelson was over” and he was “very jealous” of her new one.
In his sentencing remarks yesterday, Mr Justice O’hara said Finlay had a conviction in 1999 for assaulting his first wife and a daughter along with a conviction in 2002 for harassing his first wife and assaulting her.
He added: “I am struck by the premeditation in this case and when he got his chance to murder, he seized it mercilessly.”
She was brutally murdered in her own home, where she should have felt safe
FAMILY STATEMENT YESTERDAY