On-the-run murder duo: What exactly did Stephen McParland and Alison McDonagh do?

Stephen Michael McParland, aged 54 and incarcerated in Maghaberry, went missing at the same time last week as Alison Michelle McDonagh, aged 49, and incarcerated in Hydebank (the Province’s only female jail).

Under ‘offence’, McParland has listed: “life licence revocation, murder”.

Alison Michelle McDonagh, 49, was on a “pre-release scheme” from Hydebank when she vanished on January 21 (Saturday).

It is the fourth time she has absconded.

But what landed the pair of them in prison in the first place?

|– ‘LIKE A ZOMBIE, FOAMING AT THE MOUTH, HE HAD JUST GONE CRAZY’ –|

On January 31, 1997, then aged in his late 20s, McParland attacked a drinking buddy, Gary Alexander McKimm, who was aged 33.

McParland was detained almost immediately, then was convicted and jailed in March 1998.

A review of his sentence led to a ruling in 2004 that he must serve a bare minimum of 16 years before being considered for release.

(Given that this would have made him eligible to get out in 2013, it is likely that he had already been freed but then was later recalled back to jail for breaking the terms of his release).

At the time of the murder, he had been out drinking with the victim (who was an alcoholic) and another man called Thomas Boyd.

The attack happened in an alley off east Belfast’s Cregagh Road at 4pm.

The text of the judgement says that, as they got a bus together to the Cregagh Road, McKimm “was agitated that [McParland] had cashed a giro cheque belonging to a friend”, and accused McParland of fraud.

Here is Mr Boyd’s witness statement concerning the killing, which is worth quoting at length:

“While the bus was going, Gary and Steve were at each other in a slagging match, and they were getting louder as they went on …

"We went into the entry behind the bank and then up the other entry that leads off it… all the time Gary is still giving off about his £20 and the giro that was stolen.

"At this time Steve said to Gary: ‘If you don’t shut up I’ll give you another two black eyes’.

"He was referring to a time two weeks previous when him and Gary had a fight up at the DHSS…

"Gary was still going on about the money and suddenly Steve just drew back and punch[ed] him in the face.

"I would say he punched him about four times really hard.

"At this Gary just slumped back against the wall in the entry, but he was still on his feet.

"When that happened, I ran over to Steve and grabbed him and pulled him off Gary.

“Steve broke free from me, and went back at Gary again.

"At this time I saw a wee woman passing across the bottom of the entry where we had come in. She looked down at us, but didn’t stop.

"Steve again went over to Gary and was again punching him in the face...

"By this time the blood was coming from Gary’s mouth and nose where he had been punched, and he was down on his hunkers – probably on his backside still with his back against the wall.

"By this time Steve was just like a zombie; there was spit and foam round his mouth.

"He just seemed to have gone crazy, although he had not been drinking very much he had been keeping himself straight.

"He said ‘I wish I could find a breezeblock to kill this f***ing b*****d’.

“He then took a run at Gary and started to lob big kicks at him.

"He started off kicking Gary about the legs and body, and then kicking him on the head and face.

"I said ‘Look enough that‘s enough, I’m getting out of here’ and I started to walk away.

"As I walked away I looked back and by this time Gary had started to fall over onto his side.

"I then saw Steve standing over Gary when he was lying on the ground and all I could see was Steve’s leg going up and down where he was stamping on Gary’s head.

"He was just laughing and sort of shouting at Gary ‘Die, die, die you b*****d’.”

Mr Boyd and McParland then “went for a drink in a local bar” together.

At the time of the murder, McParland had already been before a court 24 times, starting when he was a child.

His record was dominated by things like theft and burglary, but he was also convicted in December 1985 of attempted murder.

He was given a three-year probation order for that crime.

|– FEMALE KILLER HAS PENCHANT FOR DISAPPEARING –|

Alison Michelle McDonagh (then known by the surname Martin) stabbed George ‘Geordie’ McDowell to death in Rathcoole, a sprawling loyalist-dominated estate in north Belfast / Newtownabbey, in 2004.

Mr McDowell was aged 47, and McDonagh had been 31 at the time.

She was listed at the time of the murder as having no address.

Mr McDowell had been living at Utility Street, south Belfast, and died from a single stab wound from a kitchen knife at a flat at Crossreagh Drive, Rathcoole, where he had been staying.

Both McDonagh and her victim Geordie McDowell had been drinking in the days leading up to the murder.

The knife penetrated an artery near Mr McDowell’s left ear, and he died from internal bleeding.

McDonagh had tried to pin the murder on a Rathcoole man she was staying with at the time.

She maintained her innocence during police interviews, and pleaded not guilty to murder at trial, but was convicted in 2006.

In an appeal in 2012, she used a technicality concerning the advice given to the jury on the use of DNA in the case, to prove her conviction was unsafe.

She failed.

The judgement handed down in that appeal summarised the killing like this:

“[The Rathcoole householder – Mr X – in whose flat the killing occurred] is an alcoholic, and it is common case that he had been drinking heavily throughout the period in question.

"The deceased had been staying at his house, and was also drinking heavily in the days prior to his death.

"[Mr X] said that the applicant [McDonagh] had brought the deceased to his house....

"[Mr X’s] evidence was that on the night of Thursday July 29, 2004, the applicant entered his flat and told the deceased to get out of it.

"She then went into the kitchen and came out with a knife in her right hand.

"She stabbed the deceased in the left side of the neck below the left ear.

"[Mr X] got the deceased a towel which he put to his neck and the accused left.

"[Mr X] said that he then fell asleep, leaving the deceased in the chair.

"He woke up shortly before 9pm and saw the deceased lying facedown on the floor dead.”

McDonagh reportedly got her current surname after marrying a Maghaberry inmate (who has since died).

In 2021, the Sunday World reported that she had absconded three times in the preceding five years.

The News Letter has repeatedly reported on authorities’ inability to keep track of violent prisoners:

• Convicted killer on the loose in Northern Ireland – yet again – without authorities alerting public

• PSNI stresses its commitment to public safety after waiting 10 months to issue ‘wanted person’ appeal for missing suspect

The Department of Justice has given the following descriptions of McParland and McDonagh:

McParland is described as 1.76m (5’7’’), of medium build, fresh complexion, with blue eyes, dirty fair hair, and the following features:

Upper left arm: tattoos of a rose, ‘Stephen’, and a Rangers FC badge; upper right arm: a tattoo saying Cross Mils Michael RIP; lower right arm: a tattoo of two skulls, a dagger, and Sonic the Hedgehog; left knee: tattoo saying MIC; and a scar on the right of his chin.

He was out of jail for “pre-release testing” when he vanished on January 21 (Saturday).

McDonagh meanwhile is 1.6m tall (5’3’’) with green eyes and brown hair, and these features:

Two pierced ears, and these tattoos on her lower right arm: Mad + Mark, Courtney, mum and dad, and a ribbon.