Crossbow murderer urged to reveal his motive for executing pensioner
THE partner of a retired lecturer who was fatally shot with a crossbow has called for his murderer to reveal why he killed him.
Terence Whall, 39, was convicted at Mold Crown Court yesterday of killing Gerald Corrigan, 74, who was fatally injured as he adjusted a satellite dish outside his home in Anglesey, during the early hours of Good Friday, April 19, last year.
The jury in the trial, which lasted more than four weeks, was told it may never know why Mr Corrigan was murdered.
North Wales Police said a parallel fraud investigation was ongoing after claims the pensioner and his partner Marie Bailey, 64, handed over £250,000 to convicted fraudster Richard Wyn Lewis, before his death.
In a statement, Miss Bailey said: “Gerry was my partner in life, my best friend, he meant the world to me.
“Every day I am faced with the reality of no Gerry Corrigan in my life anymore. Each day my heart is broken, I feel it breaking again and I can do nothing.
“For Gerry’s family and friends, I am sorry we have lost him, our lives are poorer and somehow empty without him. To that sad, twisted broken
soul who murdered him, I say if you have an ounce of humanity, any sense of decency then you would tell us now why you have done this.
“Anybody who knows anything about why this man would have carried out such a despicable act, then I would implore you to come forward.
“To you I say this, I am sorry for you and you have been given what you deserve.”
Detective Chief Inspector Brian Kearney said Mr Corrigan may have become a “source or potential source of grief to local criminality”.
He said: “We really want the Corrigan family to have the answers to understand why someone has so brutally executed their partner, their father.”
The court heard the couple handed money over to Mr Lewis, who remains under investigation, for a land deal, work to a house and a horse.
Mr Lewis also grew cannabis in an outbuilding at their property, but removed the drugs farm when Mr Corrigan realised the scale of the operation, the court heard.
DCI Kearney said a prosecution file on the fraud investigation, understood to involve three suspects, was awaiting review by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The court heard evidence Whall and co-defendant Gavin Jones, 36, who were both convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for a plot to set fire to Whall’s car, were also involved in a dispute over money with Mr Lewis.
Whall, a twice-married tai chi instructor from east London, denied ever meeting Mr Corrigan, who died in hospital on May 11.
But, the court heard he hid outside the father-of-two’s remote home and waited for him to leave after the Sky signal was interfered with.
The crossbow bolt passed through the pensioner’s body causing serious internal injuries and bruising his heart before shattering a bone in his arm as it left his body.
The GPS system from Whall’s state-of-the-art Land Rover Discovery, which was found burnt out in a disused quarry on June 3, showed he had been in the area of Mr Corrigan’s home, near South Stack, at the time of the shooting and on the previous night.
Whall initially told police he was at home on the night Mr Corrigan was shot but, when the GPS showed he was not, he said he was in the area because he was having a sexual encounter with friend Barry Williams. Mr Williams denied the claims. Part way through the trial, which lasted more than four weeks, Jones’s brother Darren Jones, 41, and his friend Martin Roberts, 34, pleaded guilty to the arson of the Land Rover Discovery.
In a statement after the verdict, Mr Corrigan’s daughter Fiona said: “Nothing can prepare you for a 7am telephone call on a Bank Holiday weekend to tell you your dad has been shot. You need to get to the hospital in Bangor before it’s too late.
“I had to drive from one hospital to another. It’s not easy to drive when all you want to do is scream. We knew we needed to be there for dad.
“The mental torture of having a loved one in critical care is not something I’d wish on anyone.
“Being given a glimmer of hope just because for that hour, they had stabilised his blood pressure only to have it dashed because of the reality of the
situation. The injuries caused by a crossbow are not designed to just kill, they are designed to mutilate.
“The particular weapon us designed for hunting to bring down big game, and that is what my dad became. Prey. We may never know why.
“The reason the news of the shooting was such a shock for us was that he was such a good man. Just an average bloke enjoying his retirement. He enjoyed a lie in, a nice cup of tea and reading books. He loved Laurel and Hardy films and photographing flowers and mountains. Our lives won’t be the same without him.
“Through tragic circumstances, I have had the privilege to meet dedicated and kind NHS doctors and nurses as well police officers.
“I want to thank them as well as the local community for all their help and assistance and I ask that we are now given privacy to grieve.”
And Mr Corrigan’s son, Neale, said: “I would like to thank all those who have helped my family and I in this terrible year for us.
“The nurses worked day and night to care for my father and the police have also worked incredibly hard again day and night to keep us safe and bring swift justice for my father and my family. I thank especially DCI Brian Kearney and all the investigating officers and especially the family liaison officers.
“I would also like to thank the legal team who have worked so hard and the jury for their diligent service.
“Thank you to those who have reached out to support me, who include my managers, close friends and colleagues, local church, victim support and SAMM National who all listened to me when I really, really needed it.
“There are so many people who are struggling with grief and need someone to take courage to call them, you can just offer to listen.
“I would like to say to those who are even thinking of attacking another, please know that you are devastating the lives of so many others.
“My father was so diligent and wise, he often said to me be patient and forgive.
“To those who are guilty as my father in heaven has given me strength and forgiven me I am really trying to forgive you.
“I urge you to seek God and find the strength to turn your life around.
“Finally I would like to thank the press who have respected our privacy and I ask that that please continue.”
Whall, Gavin Jones, Darren Jones and Roberts are due to be sentenced on Friday.