Co Down man admits murder of his partner's cousin who was bludgeoned in his own bed
A Co. Down man was handed a life sentence today after he admitted the murder of his partner’s cousin.
Timothy Walker was due to go on trial at Downpatrick Crown Court but instead defence KC John Kearney asked for the 43-year-old to be rearraigned on the single charge against him.
As Walker stood handcuffed in the dock, wearing a grey fleece over a white shirt and pale blue tie, he said simply “guilty” when the court clerk asked him whether he was guilty or not guilty of the murder of Denis Curtis Shearer on 9 March 2021.
Standing alongside the killer in the dock, his partner, mother-of-four Natalie Brannigan was also rearraigned and admitted a charge of assisting an offender.
The particulars of the offences disclose that on 28 February 2021 Brannigan drove to collect Walker in the Glencairn area of North Belfast and drove him back to Holywood and onwards to Newtownards, in an effort to evade detection.
The charges arise following an attack on her cousin Mr Shearer at his home on the Fernmore Road in Bangor at the end of February. He passed away on 9 March.
Walker, originally from Abbey Ring in Holywood but now with an address at HMP Maghaberry, bludgeoned him with a “blunt instrument” before fleeing the scene and leaving his victim fatally injured.
Earlier this year Walker entered a guilty plea to “manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility” but that was not accepted by the prosecution.
In court today both Mr Kearney and Brannigan’s defence KC Eilish McDermott asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow the probation board to complete pre-sentence reports.
Prosecuting KC David McDowell said that in addition, the PPS would also be obtaining victim impact statements from Mr Shearer’s grieving relatives.
Addressing Walker, Mr Justice O’Hara told the 43-year-old “it is more than three and a half years since you murdered Mr Shearer in his bed and you have now admitted your part in that offence.”
“The law requires me to impose a life sentence on you for that murder and I do that now,” the judger told Walker explaining that once the various reports had been completed, “I will fix the minimum number of years that you must serve”.
Ms McDermott asked for Brannigan, from The Green also in Holywood, to be freed on bail and emphasised that she has been on bail since the incident with no issues or breaches.
“I will allow bail to Miss Branigan pending the hearing but she should understand it does not follow from that that she will not be sent to prison in February,” Mr Justice O’Hara warned as he adjourned the case to mid February.