DOUBLE KILLER LOSES APPEAL
A double killer has lost his legal bid to be cleared of his latest murder conviction.
William McFall was one of two men jailed for life after they were found guilty by a jury of torturing and setting fire to a young mum on the edge of Sunderland.
Quyen Ngoc Nguyen’s remains could only be identified through dental records after they were discovered inside her torched Audi A4 in Success Lane, Shiney Row, in August 2017.
McFall, then 51, and Stephen Unwin, 40, of St Oswald’s Terrace, Houghton, blamed each other when they stood trial together at Newcastle Crown Court in March 2018.
But the jury took just four hours to convict them of murder after learning of their “violent, warped sexual fantasy and greed”.
McFall swore at the judge and vowed “I will appeal this” as he was led away from the dock.
His legal bid to have the conviction overturned has now been rejected by separate judges at London’s Court of Appeal.
A full explanation for their decision last Friday is expected to be released shortly.
McFall, of Waterloo Road, Blackpool, was branded “an extremely violent man, capable of monstrous behaviour” by trial judge Mr Justice Morris back in 2018.
He was originally jailed for murder in 1997 after he admitted striking 86-year-old Martha Gilmore with a hammer at Station Road, Greencastle, Northern Ireland, in 1996.
Transferred to the UK mainland amid concerns that he was a target for other inmates, he met fellow killer Unwin.
Unwin was also serving a life sentence after admitting murdering 73-year-old Jack Greenwell by stabbing him and setting fire to his Houghton home on Christmas Day 1998.
The killers kept in touch after they were released and began working as handymen together.
They lured Miss Nguyen to Unwin’s home on the pretence of discussing maintenance work at properties she rented out before stealing her bank cards and launching their four-hour attack.
Unwin received an additional life sentence after he was convicted of raping 28-year-old Miss Nguyen, from Killingworth, near Newcastle. McFall was cleared of a similar charge.