Soldier jailed for life over barracks murder
Vicious assault broke popular corporal’s neck in three places
A SOLDIER found guilty of murdering a comrade in a vicious attack at their barracks has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 15 years.
In a majority decision, the jury at Birmingham Crown Court returned its verdict against Lance Corporal Richard Farrell, after 19 hours of deliberations.
Throughout a four-week trial, Farrell had denied killing fellow member of the Royal Irish Regiment 32-year-old Corporal Geoffrey McNeill in his room at Clive Barracks, Tern Hill, Shropshire, in March.
Sentencing, judge Melbourne Inman QC told Farrell he had carried out a “very severe assault” on Afghan veteran Cpl McNeill, in his room.
“That is not however how you killed Mr McNeill,” he said.
“You killed him by sustained pressure to his neck with either a ligature or manually, like some form of arm hold.”
The judge said a post mortem revealed that, in the course of the strangulation, Cpl McNeill had dug his fingernails so hard into his own neck in a bid to break whatever hold was on him, it had left marks.
Judge Inman added he was satisfied there had been “premeditation” in the attack, and that having killed Cpl McNeill, Farrell then “left his body”.
He said: “I am satisfied that there is no sensible possibility you went looking for Mr McNeill for purely peaceful reasons and only reacted with such violence as a result of something that passed between you.”
Despite Farrell’s denial, the jury agreed with the Crown’s case that the 23-year-old, from Dublin, had in the early hours of March 8 murdered Cpl McNeill “inflicting a series of heavy blows” according to prosecuting QC Christopher Hotten, and breaking the older man’s neck in three places.
Farrell claimed he remembered nothing of the night’s events, having drunk at least a litre of Disaronno liquer, after having been punched by McNeill in a pub in nearby Market Drayton earlier in the evening.
Judge Inman said of that claim: “Whether that is the truth, only you will know.”
The judge said it was clear that Cpl McNeill, from Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, was “obviously a hugely well liked and respected soldier”.
Cpl McNeill’s family said the devastation caused by his death was “immeasurable, unforgettable and indefinite.”