Escaped murderer of British honeymooners shot dead by Antigua police

Avie Howell, convicted for the 2008 murders of Ben and Catherine Mullany, was shot by police after escaping prison. He died in hospital hours later.

Convicted honeymoon killer shot dead after Antigua prison break

Avie Howell, serving a life sentence for the murders of British newlyweds Ben and Catherine Mullany, was shot dead by police in Antigua on Friday, theguardian.com reports. He died in hospital roughly three hours after the confrontation, at around midday local time.

Howell had escaped from Antigua's jail the previous day alongside Kenroy Laurie Marshall, who was being held on fraud charges. Counsellor Jamal Wright, based at St John's police station, said the two men used a sharp implement to cut through mesh and scaled the prison's northern wall, which stands approximately 9 metres high. Police shot Howell during a confrontation in the remote parish of St Mary.

In 2011, Howell was sentenced to life in prison alongside his accomplice Kaniel Martin for the killings of the Mullanys, a couple from Rhos, near Pontardawe in south Wales. The two men had burst into the couple's chalet at the Cocos hotel in July 2008, shooting them both in the head before taking their mobile phones, cash and a digital camera.

Catherine Mullany, a doctor, died at the scene. Her husband Ben, a physiotherapy student at the University of the West of England in Bristol and a former South Yorkshire police officer, was airlifted to the UK on a life-support machine. He died a week after the attack at Morriston hospital in Swansea, despite the efforts of his wife's colleagues there. The couple had been married for just over a fortnight at the time of the attack, both aged 31.

Five weeks after witnessing the wedding in Cilybebyll, the couple's parents were attending their funeral.

Beyond the Mullany murders, Howell and Martin were also convicted of shooting 43-year-old shopkeeper Woneta Anderson. Last year Howell received an additional four-year sentence for a burglary carried out weeks before the honeymoon killings.

The Mullany family were described as "extremely shocked" upon learning that Howell had managed to escape custody.

Source: Google News AG — Crime