Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Reds coach Klopp can’t wait to see brave Sean
Judge sets minimum tariff for ‘brutal, senseless and unnecessary’ murder
BRAVE Sean Cox returns to Anfield this weekend for the first time since his brutal assault and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hopes to meet him there.
The dad of three and his family will be guests of Liverpool, 18 months after he was attacked by Roma supporters before the club’s Champions League semi-final first leg meeting in April 2018.
And Klopp shared his delight at the news, adding: “It’s great. I hope I can see him but I’m not sure if it’s possible.
“It’s just wonderful. It’s been a tough 18 months for the family, for himself and his friends.
“I’m sure our supporters will make it a really special occasion for him and if I have the opportunity around the game, I would really like to see him.”
Meanwhile, a group of musicians from Mr Cox’s home town of Dunboyne, Co Meath, have come together to produce a moving rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
All proceeds from the charity single will be donated to the Sean Cox Rehabilitation Trust which was established to raise much-needed funds for his future care.
Businessman and amateur musician Gerry Hannigan said: “This was a special project for all of us involved.”
A DOCTOR who murdered his mother was told yesterday he will serve a minimum of eight years in jail for the “brutal, senseless and unnecessary” killing.
Declan O’neill, 29, wept as Mr Justice Colton said he was “provoked at the very least by the prolonged stress” endured by the “extremely controlling behaviour” of his mother Anne.
The 51-year-old was found with severe head injuries in the back garden of her elderly parents’ home in Finaghy, South Belfast, on October 21, 2017.
Neighbours contacted police after they heard loud banging and a woman screaming and saying, “Leave me alone Declan” just before 7am.
Despite the intervention of emergency services, Mrs O’neill was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her son brought what the judge described as a “murder kit” to his grandparents home which included a rope, a mask and a chisel – the latter which he used to attack his mother.
A postmortem carried out the following day concluded the cause of death was due to a bleed to the brain with multiple fractures to her skull.
Saying death was “rapid but not immediate” and was due to multiple blows to the head, pathologist Prof Jack Crane concluded: “This woman died as a result of injuries sustained in an assault. She had been struck repeatedly on the head with a heavy blunt object and the back of her head had been pummelled against the edge of the tiles steps, and her face had been thrust against a hard, uneven surface such as the concrete path or patio.”
Officers arrived at O’neill’s Malone Avenue apartment a short time later and when they spoke to him he said he had been in bed with his partner and had last seen his mother the night before. However, the police investigation found his mother’s blood in his car and on items located at the back of his apartment, including a bloodstained chisel and a rubber face mask.
When he was arrested on suspicion of murder, O’neill initially denied involvement.
However, during the 14th interview, he confessed to the killing and said: “I didn’t mean to, I just couldn’t take any
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more”.
Mr Justice Colton told Belfast Crown Court “all murders are tragic, but there is something particularly troubling about the murder of a mother by a son”.
He added: “The murder becomes stranger when one learns that the defendant is in fact a qualified medical doctor – a profession devoted to the care of others and the protection of life.
“It is clear that he will carry the burden of his actions for the rest of his life.”