Murder conviction quashed for Belfast woman who stabbed abusive partner

Julie Ann McIlwaine's murder conviction has been overturned by the Court of Appeal, which found jurors were misdirected on her loss of control defence.

Belfast woman's murder verdict quashed after appeal court finds jury misdirection

Julie Ann McIlwaine, a 35-year-old west Belfast woman who stabbed her partner James Joseph Crossley to death while he slept, has had her murder conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal, bbc.com reports.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan, sitting with Lord Justice Colton, ruled that jurors had been misdirected on the legal test for a loss of control defence. "We cannot be satisfied that the conviction is safe," she said, quashing the guilty verdict and granting the prosecution two weeks to decide whether to seek a retrial.

McIlwaine, who has been serving a minimum 12-year sentence, wept on a videolink from Hydebank Prison as the ruling was delivered.

The killing and its circumstances

Crossley, 38, was stabbed up to 10 times in the chest and abdomen in March 2022 as he lay sleeping beside the couple's young child at McIlwaine's former home in Dunmurry. The pair had been in a relationship marked 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 contact with her. Despite a period of separation, the two had resumed their relationship by the night of the killing.

The court heard that Crossley took medication and went to sleep after an argument in which he issued an ultimatum demanding McIlwaine choose between him and her family. During police interviews, McIlwaine said she had considered taking her own life. She described taking a knife from the kitchen, returning to the bedroom, moving the child, and then repeatedly stabbing her sleeping partner.

McIlwaine admitted the killing but denied murder, arguing she had suffered a temporary loss of control as a victim of domestic abuse. In October 2024, a jury unanimously rejected that defence and returned a guilty verdict.

The legal flaw at the heart of the appeal

Defence lawyers argued on appeal that jurors had been misdirected and had reached a verdict that went against the weight of expert evidence. The central issue was the precise wording used by the trial judge when directing the jury on the loss-of-control defence.

Instead of asking whether someone with similar characteristics to McIlwaine "might" have reacted in the same way, the question put to the jury was whether such a person "would" have acted in the same way. Dame Siobhan backed the defence submission that this wording imposed a higher — and incorrect — threshold for establishing the probability of loss of control.

Two consultant forensic psychiatrists had concluded that a properly directed jury could find McIlwaine met the necessary criteria. Both experts highlighted the psychological impact of prolonged abuse and the recognised behavioural responses of victims in coercively controlling relationships.

"The misdirection we have identified was highly material, given the uncontradicted expert evidence," Dame Siobhan said. "The appeal succeeds… and the conviction for murder will accordingly be quashed."

Next steps

The case was adjourned until 16 October, at which point the prosecution must indicate what steps it intends to take. Dame Siobhan told prosecution counsel: "You have to come back to court on what steps you want to take."

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)