Bangor guesthouse owner killer gets 12 years
A man who knifed a Bangor guesthouse owner to death in a "frenzy" was jailed for life today and told that he will have to serve at least 12 and a half years before even being considered for release.
Imposing the minimum tariff on 21-year-old James William McCoy at Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, Lord Justice Girvan said there was "significant medical evidence" which showed that when he killed 68-year-old William Spence, McCoy had been suffering from Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism which would have significantly impaired his judgement.
The bloody body of the pensioner was found in the laundry room of Tara Guesthouse on Bangor's Princetown Road on July 1 2008 and police investigations revealed that he had been stabbed 19 times.
As his trial was about to begin last month McCoy, with an address at the Simon Community Hostel on Central Avenue in Bangor, pleaded guilty to his murder and to charges of aggravated burglary on a date unknown between June 29 and July 2 2008.
He also admitted to a further charge of burglary in relation to the guesthouse on 22 June 2008, a week before the murder.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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