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A Belfast woman who stabbed her abusive partner to death while he slept has won a legal bid to overturn her murder conviction, as the Court of Appeal ruled jurors were misdirected.
Julie Ann McIlwaine, a 35-year-old Belfast woman, has won a legal bid to overturn her murder conviction for stabbing her abusive partner, James Joseph Crossley, to death while he slept in March 2022. The Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled on Friday that jurors were misdirected on McIlwaine's loss of control defence, and senior judges quashed the guilty verdict, giving the prosecution two weeks to decide whether to seek a retrial.
Background of the Killing
McIlwaine admitted killing her partner but denied murder, claiming she suffered a temporary loss of control as a victim of domestic abuse. Crossley (38) was stabbed up to 10 times in the chest and abdomen as he lay sleeping beside the couple's young child at McIlwaine's former home in the Dunmurry area.
The pair had been in a relationship marred by emotional manipulation and coercive control. At the time of his death, Crossley was on bail for an alleged assault against McIlwaine and subject to a restraining order prohibiting any contact with her. Despite a period of separation, they had reestablished their relationship by the night of the killing.
The court heard Crossley took medication and went to sleep following arguments where he issued an ultimatum for McIlwaine to choose between him and her family. During police interviews, the defendant stated that it all got on top of her and how she considered taking her own life. She described taking a knife from the kitchen, returning to the bedroom and moving the child before repeatedly stabbing her sleeping partner. The prosecution argued that she made rational choices which demonstrated being in control of her actions.
Appeal and Legal Issues
In October 2024, a jury at Coleraine Crown Court rejected McIlwaine's case and unanimously found her guilty of murder. McIlwaine, who has been serving a minimum 12-year jail term, wept on the video link from Hydebank Prison as the ruling was delivered. She had been convicted after a trial that her defence lawyers argued was flawed due to misdirection on the loss of control defence.
Defence lawyers argued on appeal that they had been misdirected and reached a verdict which went against the weight of expert evidence. Central to the appeal was how the trial judge advised jurors on the legal test for the loss of control defence. Instead of asking them to decide if someone of similar characteristics to McIlwaine might have reacted similarly, the question posed was would that person have acted in the same way. The judges backed defence submissions that the wording used wrongly imposed a higher threshold for establishing probability.
Two consultant forensic psychiatrists had also concluded that a properly directed jury could find McIlwaine met the criteria necessary to establish loss of self-control. Both witnesses highlighted the psychological impact of prolonged abuse and the recognised behaviour responses of victims in coercively controlling relationships.
Court Ruling and Next Steps
Judge Siobhan Keegan confirmed the court's decision, stating that they cannot be satisfied that the conviction is safe. She said the misdirection identified was highly material, given the uncontradicted expert evidence, and that the appeal succeeds and the conviction for murder will accordingly be quashed.
Adjourning the case until October 16th, Keegan told prosecution counsel that they have to come back to court on what steps they want to take. The prosecution now has two weeks to decide whether to seek a retrial in the case.
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