Roofer who stabbed pregnant girlfriend to death with scissors in 'frenzied' attack has…

September 19, 2024, 05:53 | Updated: September 19, 2024, 06:17

The sentence of a roofer who stabbed his pregnant girlfriend more than 40 times with scissors in a “frenzied” attack has been reduced by the Court of Appeal.

Liam Taylor killed Ailish Walsh, who was almost 23 weeks pregnant, in her flat in Hackney, east London, on December 15, 2022, by stabbing her 46 times and hitting her on the head with a dumbbell.

The 38-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years after pleading guilty to Ms Walsh's murder at the Old Bailey in August 2023.

But on Wednesday, appeal judges in London said the sentence should be reduced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years.

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Andrew Morris, representing Taylor, said the judge had mistakenly used words such as sadistic and sexual to categorize Taylor's sentence when handing down the verdict, but there was “no factual basis that his conduct was of a sexual nature.”

But Mr Morris said that although Ms Walsh was stabbed in the genitals and abdomen, there was no sexual motivation behind her murder.

The lawyer added: “The attack was brutal, with numerous stab wounds with two weapons.

“The judge used words like sadistic and sexual, which were chosen to fit the sentence.

“It was only as the case evolved and changed that it was simply no longer sufficient to set such a high starting point for his sentence.”

Mr Morris also said that Taylor, who has previously been convicted of attacks on female family members, had no intention of killing the female fetus and that the “frenzied attack was a spontaneous fit of rage”.

Jane Osborne KC, prosecuting, said the wounds to Ms Walsh's abdomen had “been directed upwards” which was “a clear attempt to inflict direct injury on the foetus which he knew the deceased was carrying and which he knew was his own”.

She added: “This was not just an attack on a pregnant woman, but an attack on a pregnant woman with the aim of killing both her and the fetus she was carrying.”

Judge Thornton, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice Nicklin, said Taylor “left Ms Walsh dying and made no attempt to contact the emergency services thereafter”.

The judge said the victim was found by her father “with a 15kg dumbbell on her leg, a pair of scissors on the floor and blood all over the carpet”.

She added that Taylor, who had cocaine, cannabis and alcohol in his blood, was arrested the morning after the attack.

Although she said that when the judge pronounced the verdict, he “had the right to establish many very serious aggravating circumstances in the case,” the crime had no sexual background, so a reduced sentence was possible.

She said: “This was a brutal, cruel attack.

“The attack had elements of a sadistic nature and Ms Walsh may have known what was happening to her.”