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Woman jailed for three years for stabbing pensioner to death

Greenisland pensioner Eddie Girvan was killed in January 2016
Greenisland pensioner Eddie Girvan was killed in January 2016 Greenisland pensioner Eddie Girvan was killed in January 2016

A MOTHER-OF-TWO has been jailed for three years for what a senior judge described as the "horrific'' killing of pensioner Eddie Girvan in Co Antrim last year.

Margaret Henderson-McCarroll (31), formerly of Verner Street, Belfast, had previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 67-year-old retired plumber who was stabbed, gagged and bound at his Greenisland home on January 18, 2017.

Passing sentence yesterday at Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice Treacy said the defendant would serve a further three years on licence as part of the six year determinate custodial sentence he was imposing.

He said that he agreed with two consultant forensic psychologists that Henderson-McCarroll did not meet the dangerous provisions and that she did not pose a "significant risk of serious harm to the public in the future''.

The judge told the court: "This was an horrific crime and the deceased must have suffered terribly.''

The prosecution accepted her guilty plea to the manslaughter of the Mr Girvan on the grounds of "diminished responsibility''.

Her defence had argued that at the time of the killing Henderson-McCarroll was high on a cocktail of heroin and crystal drugs.

A defence QC told a hearing in June that at the time of the manslaughter her life had descended into a "heroin hell'' following the cot death of her infant daughter.

Summarising the background to the case, Mr Justice Treacy told the court that Henderson-McCarroll had known Mr Girvan for a number of years and she received "money for sex with him''.

He said Henderson-McCarroll was arrested after Mr Girvan's Hyundai car was crashed in Belfast on January 18, 2016. In her possession was a key of the car and its sat nav system which showed home address of 162 Station Road, which was Mr Girvan's home.

Police forced entry after calling for Mr Girvan for a third time and found his body.

Mr Justice Treacy said: "There they found the dead body of Mr Girvan bound, gagged and seated in a room on the ground floor. Photographs taken at the time showed clearly where he was and the state he was in.''

Mr Justice Treacy said that Mr Girvan had sustained two stab wounds to his body - one wound was to upper right chest area measuring 10 centimetres in depth which had "punctured his lung causing high bleeding into the lung'' and which alone "could have resulted in death''.

The second stab injury was to the lower right part of his chest, three and a half centimetres in depth, which penetrated the skin and soft tissue but "caused no vital damage''.

"Neither stab would have required any great force. The deceased had a large wad of kitchen roll stuffed into his mouth and he had been gagged with a tie. This too, of itself, could have resulted in death.''

The judge said Henderson-McCarroll told police that "there was an argument in relation to money you alleged that Mr Girvan owed you for sex."

"During the argument, you allege that you were pushed against the mantlepiece, that the deceased pulled out a stick sword that had been down the side of the chair, that you grabbed the end of it, that there was a struggle, that there was a knife at hand to cut cake, that you lifted it and poked him, to use your words, in the chest, and he fell on the chair.

"You said that you panicked, that Mr Girvan was shouting at you, and so you put a tie on his mouth to quieten him. You then left his house, took his Hyundai car, drove to Belfast, were involved in a hit and run and had taken more heroin before the journey to calm your nerves.''

Mr Justice Treacy said that Henderson-McCarroll had 100 previous criminal convictions which included offences of robbery, theft and assault.

In a number of these attacks, she had bitten, punched and head butted some of her victims who included children, elderly men, young women and adult men.

Mr Justice Treacy also handed down concurrent prison sentences ranging from one month to a year after Henderson-McCarroll pleaded guilty to charges of theft, attempted theft, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving whilst unfit through drink or drugs, no insurance, failing to report and failing to stop at an accident.

She was also banned from driving for one year and the judge said any conditions to her release licence would be attached at the appropriate time by the relevant authorities.