CONVICTED killer Fred McClenaghan will be told next week how long he will have to serve in jail for murdering his former partner.
Trial judge Mr Justice Treacy told Belfast Crown Court yesterday he will deliver his tariff ruling next Tuesday.
McClenaghan (52) of Broad Street, Magherafelt, Co Derry, was convicted last month of murdering Marion Millican at the Portstewart launderette where she worked in March 2011.
Yesterday prosecution barrister Neil Connor told Mr Justice Treacy a probation report had found McClenaghan "posed a significant risk of serious harm to the public''.
He said the jury had rejected McClenaghan's claim he had shot Mrs Millican by accident during a struggle in the launderette.
The lawyer said Mrs Millican had ended their relationship in December 2010 following three incidents of violence involving McClenaghan and had rekindled her relationship with her former husband Ken Millican.
He said that in one incident she was "rendered unconscious'' after he struck to the head; in another unprovoked attack she lost a tooth and finally he tried to strangle her in December 2010 leaving fingerprint marks around her neck.
"This murder was motivated by anger, resentment and jealousy,'' Mr Connor told Belfast Crown Court.
"This was not a quarrel. This was not an argument. This was an attack. It was a cold and calculated murder.''
He added it was clear that the murder was pre-planned as McClenaghan had acquired a 100-year-old antique double barrelled shotgun and had hidden it in a friend's shed and then drove from Magherafelt to Portstewart on the morning of the murder to shoot Mrs Millican at her place of work.
Mr Connor said it was evident from the probation report that McClenaghan saw himself as the "real victim''.
"Everybody was to blame but the accused.''
He added that McClenaghan had shown no remorse for his victim.
Defence counsel John McCrudden QC said McClenaghan had asked him to express his remorse to the family of Marion Millican as "he knows he bears the full responsibility for her death''.
"There is nothing that can be said that can bring her back.''
He added that McClenaghan maintained the gun went off accidentally during a struggle following a "quarrel'' in the launderette.
Mr McCrudden said at the time of the murder McClenaghan had been suffering from a "severe'' mental health disorder brought on by nightmares of sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a family friend who was a police officer.
He said McClenaghan had sought help for his "suicidal'' thoughts around Christmas 2010 but should have been referred to a consultant psychiatrist for examination.
"Something should have been done but the statutory agencies failed. The accused had done all he had done.
"The system failed him. The police system failed Mrs Millican.''
The defence QC added that if there had been a co-ordinated effort between the PSNI and the health agencies "we would not be talking about a murder and Mrs Millican would be alive today''.
* SHOOTING: Fred McClenaghan murdered his ex-partner Marion Millican in the Portstewart launderette where she worked