Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KILLER MUM ‘HAS SHOWN NO REMORSE’
Woman, 42, in court over knife attack on tots
A WOMAN awaiting sentence for murdering her young son refuses to speak about what she did and has displayed no remorse, a court heard yesterday.
The defendant, who cannot be named due to a reporting restriction, appeared at a hearing at Belfast Court via a videolink with Hydebank.
She is due to be sentenced for murdering her son, who was two years and 10 months.
He suffered fatal stab wounds in the family home outside Larne, Co Antrim, in March 2, 2020.
A Crown prosecutor pointed out the incident was “a hair’s breadth away from being a double murder”.
The defendant, 42, was also charged with attempting to murder her 11-month old son on the same date.
Despite acknowledging she stabbed her sons, she denied the charges of murder and attempted murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
A trial was held earlier this year – but after the Crown completed its case, this line of defence was no longer proceeded with and she finally confessed to the two charges.
She was handed life by Judge Patricia Smyth in May and was back in court for further submissions to be made ahead of the tariff hearing. Speaking to the father of the children in the public gallery, Judge Smyth acknowledged he “needed a conclusion”.
Prosecutor Charles Maccreanor told the judge when it came to remorse, it was “non-existent in this case”.
He spoke of the planning that went into killing one son and attempting to kill another and the multiple stab wounds inflicted upon both. This included writing notes and sending texts to the children’s father, who was the first person to attend the scene.
Speaking of the impact the incident has had on the dad, Mr Maccreanor said he had “experienced significant trauma ... that is likely to remain with him”.
Counsel said despite her guilty pleas, the defendant has offered “no explanation” for her actions. And during a conversation with a probation officer, she “refused to speak about what happened” and presented herself as the victim of coercive control.
Defence barrister Kieran Mallon spoke of “certain taboo factors” surrounding the “unnatural act” of a mother attacking those she loved.
Pointing out that four medical experts concluded she had a “recognised mental illness”, Mr Mallon said “extended suicide” was a “possible explanation”.
Judge Smyth told the children’s father: “I have not spoken to you today.
“And I’m conscious you are in this court listening to what must sound like completely surreal matters, given what you have witnessed and, as has been acknowledged, what you
live with and will always live with. I will give this my utmost attention ... but this is a particularly complex sentencing exercise and I will give my sentence as soon as I can.”
The defendant was remanded back into Hydebank and will return to court at a later date to hear how many years she will spend in prison.
higher taxes, and worse public services than previously expected. Whether or not making the choices was tough, the reality of living through the next few years will be.”
Just 24 hours after the Autumn Statement there were already signs of a Tory rebellion brewing.
Former Cabinet minister
Esther Mcvey suggested the tax rises could be the
“final nail” in the party’s electoral chances.
She told Gbnews: “I can’t be supporting these rises, I said look at other places that you could have saved the money and got more value for the British people.”
Former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-mogg also criticised the Chancellor’s approach, saying putting up taxes was the “easy option”. He said: “What we actually need to be doing is having a strategy for growth and looking to lower taxes.” The backbench Tory MP Sir Charles Walker told Times Radio he did not “particularly like” the contents of the Autumn Statement, but thought it was “necessary” to get the public finances “back into shape”.
Mr Hunt yesterday denied his policies amounted to a raid on working people with a two-year extension to the freeze on income tax thresholds.
He said: “It’s not possible to raise £25billion of taxes just focusing on a very small group of very rich people and I’m being very open about that.”
He admitted Treasury officials had not provided a figure on how much tax would be raised from abolishing the controversial non-dom status.
The arrangement, once held by Rishi
Sunak’s wife, allows wealthy UK residents to pay no tax on overseas income.
Mr Hunt said scrapping it would be the
“wrong thing” to do.
He said officials wanted to avoid anything that “damaged the UK’S attractiveness”.
Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Pat Mcfadden hit back saying the Tories were refusing “to make fairer choices”. He said: “They continue to shield non-doms from paying their fair share of tax.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “People’s living standards are falling off a cliff and public services are suffocating under the weight of this Conservative chaos and incompetence. Conservative ministers are responsible for economic vandalism on a scale never seen before.”