Pat McCormick murder: Sentence questioned for man who battered love rival and disposed of body in wheelie bin in lake

David Gill, 30, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to at least 16 years in prison at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of father-of-four Pat McCormick, 55, in Co Down in 2019.

Church leader Lee Eagleson from the Trinity Church in Belfast questioned the leniency of the sentence: “Being considered for release after 16 years seems a very short term for murder.”

The court case made the news outside Northern Ireland with Kevin Bulmer, a Conservative councillor in Oxfordshire, asking: “Why’s he not locked up for life?”

Mr McCormick’s daughter Morgan, 18, said: "While no amount of jail time will ever bring our dad back, it is the start of justice for me, my brothers and sister, my mum, and my dad's friends and family.”

Her father had been lured to a flat in Comber on the evening of May 30, 2019, where he believed he was going to meet Gill's fiancee Lesley Ann Dodds, who he had had a brief relationship with.

Dodds, 25, from Queen Victoria Gardens in Belfast, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years after admitting manslaughter, with half to be served in custody.

Setting out the background to the case, Judge Mr Justice Scoffield told the court that Mr McCormick had begun a relationship with Dodds, who he had met through work.

The judge said: "A curious and depressing feature of this case is that before going to Dodds' flat, Mr McCormick had been in contact with the police outlining his fear that David Gill might be lying in wait for him outside his girlfriend's flat in order to give him a beating."

The judge said no weapon had been used in the assault in the flat but that Mr McCormick had suffered a number of rib fractures.

The victim was still alive when Gill left the flat but had died when he returned the following day.

The judge told the court that Gill had then stolen a black wheelie bin and put Mr McCormick's body in it.

The body was eventually recovered six weeks later in a fishing lake in Ballygowan, Co Down, by police divers.

The judge said: "It had been placed upside down in a wheelie bin and secured with straps and weighted down with concrete blocks so it had sunk to the bottom of the lake."

A post-mortem examination showed the victim had suffered 24 rib fractures caused by direct blunt force.

The judge said he had already imposed an automatic life sentence on Gill but told him he must serve 16 years in prison before he could be considered for parole.

Turning to Dodds, the judge said: "I have no doubt whatsoever that Dodds played her part in luring Mr McCormick to her flat knowing that he would come to harm there."

Three other men who had admitted withholding information in relation to Mr McCormick's killing were also sentenced.

William Gill, 43, from Terrace View in Waringstown, Andrew Leslie, 24, from Mourne Crescent in Moneyrea, and Jonathon Richard Leslie Montgomery, 24, from Castle Espie Road in Comber, were all given suspended sentences.