Life sentences for pair over savage murder
KILLERS who murdered a vulnerable friend using a hammer, knife, scissors and a screwdriver will spend at least 28 years in jail.
William Vaill and Deborah Andrews were given life sentences for killing Skelmersdale dad Eamonn Brady in a “brutal and sustained” attack before setting his body on fire.
Mr Brady was hit on the head with a hammer at least 17 times and repeatedly stabbed and slashed to the neck and body on July 21 2018.
Vaill, 37, and Andrews, 44, then wrapped his body in bedding and set it on fire before stealing a PlayStation 4, sound bar, DVD player and bank card.
After the killing, which Judge Mark Brown said on Friday at Preston Crown Court had no clear motive, the pair went to Beacon Country Park where they burned clothing and hid the weapons.
They are also believed to have had sex in a nearby park hours after the attack, the court heard.
They went on to attempt to sell the PlayStation and use the stolen bank card in a local shop.
The pair, who had been friends with Mr Brady for several years, met by chance after Vaill had attended a funeral and went back to his flat where they drank and smoked cannabis.
By the time of the murder, Vaill, whose previous convictions include arson and criminal damage, had been drinking for 40 straight hours.
The pair left the flat at around 4.50am and later told police that Mr Brady was alive and well when they left. But police recordings revealed that Andrews was “buzzing” about the murder and describing the pair as the new Bonnie and Clyde.
Vaill, of Evington, Skelmersdale, pleaded guilty to murder and arson last month and was given a life sentence with a minimum of 28 and a half years in prison.
Andrews, of Elmstead, Skelmersdale, was found guilty after a trial and given a life sentence with a minimum of 28 years.
In the dock, both appeared emotionless during the sentencing.
Francis McEntree, prosecuting, said that Mr Brady was a vulnerable man who was regularly taken advantage of by those around him. He had earlier told family that he wanted to move out of Skelmersdale to escape people who were “leaching off him”.
An emotional victim statement read on behalf of Mr Brady’s daughter Amy Brady told of the devastating effects she has suffered since the murder.
It said that the death came 17 days short of the second anniversary of her brother Ryan’s death and that after seeing his battered and burnt body, Ms Brady now regularly suffers nightmare and is left “angry with the world”.
“There was a hole in my heart when my brother died that has been made bigger and will never be filled,” it stated.
“My dad was not only my dad, he was my entire being.”
Defending Vaill, Stuart Denney said that he had begun cannabis and alcohol habits even before he was a teenager and that Skelmersdale was “the worst place in the world for him”.
Michael Lavery, defending Andrews, said she had “limited capabilities and intelligence” and was previously of good character.