‘I hope that Covid made my friend’s murderer suffer the way he did’
A CLOSE friend of murdered Peter McMahon has told of the moment she discovered his ‘evil’ killer had died after reportedly contracting Covid in prison.
Sharon Swinhoe was jailed for life for killing the generous grandfather, whose body was found stuffed in a freezer at a Newcastle flat.
In one of Tyneside’s most disturbing murder cases of recent years, retired civil servant Peter’s eyes were gouged out at Swinhoe’s Walker home, before the murderer and her accomplice, Joseph Collins, threw his body into a dog kennel and then moved him in a suitcase, in 2012.
Swinhoe, who prosecutors at Newcastle Crown Court said used Peter as a ‘sugar daddy,’ was one of two women prisoners to have died at New Hall prison at Flockton, near Huddersfield two weeks ago, after reportedly testing positive for Covid-19.
Kerry Wheater, who had been a close friend of Peter’s, has told of the moment she discovered the killer was dead.
The 41-year-old said: “It doesn’t feel like justice. It’s a really easy way out for her. I just hope she suffered the way so many innocent people have because of Covid. It’s all she deserves.”
Peter was a quiet unassuming pensioner who had fallen on hard times since retiring.
The grandfather lived a simple life in Newcastle’s West End, and was a proud dad to his two sons Andrew, who moved to New Zealand when he died, and Steve, who lived in London.
Kerry met Peter when she was pregnant with her daughter and her new friend became a caring father figure to her.
“He would do anything for anyone,” she said. “He came with me to all my scans.”
But Peter’s kind nature also made him a target for Swinhoe, who was described in court as a “sinister” liar who attracted men like “magnets”.
Despite being warned by his friends not to get involved, Peter started a relationship with her.
Murder accomplice Joseph Collins was another man to fall under Swinhoe’s bizarre spell. Newcastle Crown Court was later told how Collins, then 54, worshipped Swinhoe and had been hoping a relationship would develop between them for around 10 years.
Peter was last seen alive on October 18, 2012, when he took a taxi to Swinhoe’s home.
He was then subjected to what prosecutors described as a “sadistic” attack.
When Peter’s bruised body was found he had a fractured and bruised nose, a fractured eye socket and bruising to the left side of his face. His eyes had been partially gouged.
The body was found two months after the attack in a chest freezer at Collins’s flat The Sycamores, a high rise block of flats in Cruddas Park. In that time Swinhoe plundered £2,660 from his bank accounts.
Swinhoe and Collins were convicted of murder and jailed for life.
Swinhoe, 52, died in hospital on February 23, and although the Prison Service said it could not confirm the cause of death as it was a matter for the coroner, it has been reported that she is one of two women inmates to die after testing positive for Covid.
Kerry, who now lives on Teesside, said. “I had mixed feelings. She doesn’t deserve to live, but she should have served her time.
“I still think about Peter a lot. Every year I put pictures of him on Facebook on his birthday.
“Peter always saw the best in people. He was easy prey for someone like her.”