‘ARROGANT’ MURDERER GETS 31 YRS
Minimum term of life sentence for ‘vicious’ crossbow killing as victim’s family tell of their nightmare:
CROSSBOW murderer Terence Whall has been sentenced to a minimum 31 years in prison.
The mandatory life sentence was delivered at Mold Crown Court on Friday.
Whall, 39, had been tried there for the murder of pensioner Gerald Corrigan, who was shot with the powerful weapon outside his home on Anglesey on Good Friday last year.
Whall maintained his innocence throughout the trial, and fabricated an elaborate story that at the time 74-year-old Corrigan was shot, he had been in the area for a gay sex liaison with another man.
But the jury saw through his lies and, after just two days of deliberation, convicted him unanimously.
Prosecutor Anne Pope told the hearing that this was a murder done for gain, although it was not known what the gain was.
Whall was heavily in debt, but there was no known motive for killing Corrigan or any known connection to the victim.
She described the weapon as “equivalent to, if not more brutal than, a firearm”.
Judge Lady Justice Nerys Jefford told the court Whall “clearly had a plan to kill”.
It was a “vicious murder” of a man who was highly thought of.
“You know well they (crossbows) were for hunting animals and designed to kill,” she told Whall.
She said he thought he had got away with it, but when the police came, he concocted stories about selling a crossbow and involving a friend to be his alibi.
“Your arrogant belief that you could get away with murder was misplaced,” she told him.
She said Mr Corrigan’s family had had to watch him die an agonising death, which doctors described him “disintegrating inside”.
On top of the minimum 31 years, Whall was given six years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, which will be served concurrently.
Ms Pope said there was clear evidence Mr Corrigan was about to report an offence of fraud, and a significant degree of planning for the murder that started some months before.
Whall had bought the bolts and broadheads and there was evidence of target practice.
And he scoped out Gof Du, Mr Corrigan’s home, the night before the fatal shooting.
Planning included putting the items in his vehicle’s boot two hours before he set off, Ms Pope said.
It was highly likely he took latex gloves to disguise evidence, destroyed his phone and got rid of the crossbow used.
The personal trainer, from Bryngwran on Anglesey, lay in wait for his victim in the early hours of April 19. When Mr Corrigan came out to try to fix the reception on his groundlevel satellite dish, Whall fired the bolt from a weapon said to be so powerful it could slay a bear.
Ms Pope said Whall was aware of the effect a crossbow and broadhead would have on Mr Corrigan, and had watched videos of what such a weapon could do to an animal.
She added there were no factors to mitigate on Whall’s behalf.
Defence lawyer David Elias said nothing that he could say was intended to distract from the grief of Mr Corrigan’s loved ones.
But Mr Elias said the judge had to be sure to be sentencing to “the criminal standard”.
He didn’t accept the crossbow falls into the category of firearm, and asked that the starting point for the sentence was not set at 30 years.
He accepted there were no mitigating factors they could point to, but said Whall had very limited previous convictions, and they were all for offences committed some time ago.
The court heard how in the aftermath of the killing, before Whall’s Land Rover was found burned out, Whall and Gavin Jones had attended the home of Richard Wyn Lewis – a man Mr Corrigan’s partner Marie Bailey said had taken up to £250,000 from her and the retired photography lecturer.
Whall’s Land Rover was discovered burned out and telematics from it placed him at the murder scene.
Ms Pope said there was communication to make arrangements to burn the vehicle.
On June 3 there were calls between Gavin Jones and Darren Jones to “finalise arrangements”.
On June 3, Whall enabled someone to have access to his car. He took his partner to the dentist, taking him out of the situation.
At 12.15pm it travelled to Bangor and parked up, when Martin Roberts joined Darren Jones and Gavin Jones.
It was then driven to the burn site at a former quarry.
Police arrived to tell Whall of the theft. He produced both keys and said he was unaware it was stolen.
Martin Roberts and Darren Jones pleaded guilty to arson.
Ms Pope said they were “both in it together” with a high degree of planning and a use of accelerant.
Gavin Jones had previously been in jail with a sentence of 42 months for possession of controlled drugs and also two motoring offences.
James Tilbury, acting for Gavin Jones, said he was “not in perfect health”.
Maria Masselis, for Darren Jones, asked the judge to consider a suspended sentence.
She said there are no strictly similar offences.
She said he had shown “genuine remorse for his behaviour”.
She said he was a responsible parent who worked as an electrician, and at the time of the offence was “lacking in structure in his personal life” and using illegal drugs.
But Justice Jefford said there was a history of failure to comply with court orders or learn from sentences.
He had 17 convictions for 25 offences involving theft and drugs. Martin Roberts had seven convictions for 23 offences – many involving theft and also taking a motor vehicle without consent.
Ellen Owen, defending him, said he had been assaulted by a co-defendant and there was a very specific threat to him on the day he entered his guilty plea.
She said he had no knowledge of the involvement of the Land Rover in the murder, and thought it belonged to Darren Jones’ sister.
He was not involved in any of the planning of the arson and was not there when it was burned.
Ms Owen said Roberts had believed the Land Rover was being burned for an insurance scam.
She said he had been involved in a lot of low-level crime in the past but that he needs to “start growing up”, and there were signs he was ready to start doing that now.
He was in a long term relationship with a “sensible lady” and probation reports suggested he was “someone they can work with”.
Whall’s co-accused – Gavin Jones, 36, of High Street, Bangor; Darren Jones, 41, of The Bryn Ogwen Estate, Penrhosgarnedd; and Martin Roberts, 35, of James Street, Bangor, received prison sentences of five years, 34 months, and 28 months, respectively.