Northern Ireland

James Crossley murder: Jury in trial sent home for day

Judge tells jury to return on Wednesday after they had been deliberating for just under four hours

COLERAINE COURT JAMES CROSSLEY MURDER TRIAL 21st OCTOBER 2024 / Julie Ann McIlwaine leaving Coleraine Courthouse on Monday where she is on trial for the murder of her partner James Crossley. Picture Margaret McLaughlin 21-10-2024
Julie Ann McIlwaine. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin (MARGARET MCLAUGHLIN PHOTOGRAPHY )
By Paul Higgins

A jury hearing the case of a woman on trial for murdering her abusive and bullying partner have been sent home for the day.

The Coleraine Crown Court jury had been deliberating for just under four hours on Tuesday before trial judge Mr Justice Kinney brought the five men and seven women back in to court to release them for the day.

Emphasising they will have “as much time as you need to reach your verdicts,” he stressed to the jury that as they are “in the middle of your deliberations” it was no more important than ever that they follow his instructions not to discuss the case or conduct their own research.

PACEMAKER BELFAST A jury were sworn in today to hear the trial of a woman who admits killing her allegedly abusive and controlling partner but denies his murder. Swearing in a jury for the trial of Julie Ann McIlwaine at Antrim Crown Court, Mr Justice Kinney told them Òit is likely in the course of the trial that you will hear evidence in relation to domestic violence or domestic abuse.Ó The victim, James Joseph Crossley, was in McIlwaineÕs home Òwhen he was killed,Ó said the judge adding that the 33-year-old defendant Òacknowledges and accepts that she caused his injuries from which he then died.Ó 10/10/204 Copy by Paul Higgins. 07973157553 Pics by Pacemaker. 07774179710 Thurs 10 Oct Õ24 An alleged victim of domestic abuse Òwaited until he was sleepingÓ before stabbing her abusive partner in the chest and abdomen, a jury heard today (thurs). The Coleraine Crown Court jury also heard that in the aftermath of Julie Ann McIlwaine stabbing James Crossley on 2 March 2022, the 33-year-old told police ÒheÕs torturing me, I have had enough, I waited until he was asleep and then stabbed him.Ó Prosecuting KC Richard Weir told the five men and eight women that 33-year-old McIlwaine Òlater said Ôwhat have I doneÕÓ and when she was told her 38-year-old partner had died in hospital, she declared Òplease God noÓ and was physically sick. McIlwaine, from Hazel Close in the Lagmore area of west Belfast, is charged that on 2 March 2022, she murdered James Joseph Crossley. The 38-year-old victim sustained fatal stab wounds at McIlwaineÕs former home in Filbert Drive and formally opening the Crown case today (thurs), Mr Weir told the jury there was broad agreement about the facts of the case but they would have to decide whether the defendant had suffered a loss of control. He said while trial judge Mr Justice Kinney would explain the minutiae of the legal defence Òmuch more exquisitely than I have,Ó he told them the defendant would have satisfy them that her Òacts and omissions in doing or being party to the killing resulted from the defendantÕs loss of control, the loss of self-control had a qualifying trigger and whether a person of the defendantÕs sex and age, with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint and in the circumstances of the defendant might have acted in the same way.Ó Mr Weir told the jury that if they were so satisfied, Òthat leads to a verdict of manslaughter.Ó Turning to the backgrounds facts of what happened, the senior barrister described how it was defendant herself who made a 999 call at 23.47, telling the operator that she had Òlocked herself in the downstairs bathroom with her baby and that she had stabbed her boyfriend at least six times.Ó The call handler advised her to seek help from a neighbour and Mr Weir told the jury they would hear evidence that McIlwaine was banging and ÒscreamingÓ at her neighbourÕs door and when they opened it, they saw she was Òcovered in bloodÓ and she told them ÒIÕve stabbed him.Ó The 999 operator told the neighbour to go next door and when he did, he saw Mr Crossley Òlying on the floor, on all fours and he described how there was blood all over him.Ó McIlwaine told her neighbours ÒheÕs torturing me, I have had enough, I waited until he was sleeping and then I stabbed himÓ and she also kept asking Òis he dead, is he dead.Ó Mr Weir said McIlwaine also told them Mr Crossley was forcing her to choose Òbetween her family and me, thatÕs what he said to her.Ó ÒMr Crossley had sustained a number of stab wounds and had lost as great deal of blood,Ó the senior barrister told the court, adding that despite the Òbest effortsÓ of police and paramedics at the scene and emergency doctors at the RVH, the victim was sadly pronounced dead at 00.48, just over an hour since the initial 999 call. A most mortem examination found that the cause of death was seven stab wounds to his chest and abdomen and further that the wounds were consistent with a knife found in the bedroom, a knife which matched similar knives in a block of knives in the kitchen. McIlwaine spoke to police at the scene and she told them how the couple had reconciled the previous January but since that time, Mr Crossley had allegedly been abusive to her and was Òmaking her choose between her family and him.Ó She told police Òit was like premeditatedÉI knew what I was doingÉI couldnÕt take it any moreÉhe is a horrible person.Ó During later interviews with detectives McIlwaine claimed her dead partner had been subjecting her to Òmental torture,Ó had threatened to reveal the rekindling of the relationship to her family and that Òshe would not see her children again.Ó While the defence case is that the killing resulted from a loss of control, Mr Weir submitted that Òwe say when you have heard all of the evidence in this case, you will be satisfied to the requisite standard that she murdered James Crossley.Ó The trial continues. At hearing. MTF (depending on what evidence is heard after lunch)
James Crossley

Advising them to “clear your minds…no research, no speculation,” he sent them home for the evening but asked them to come back on Wednesday to continue their deliberations whether Julie Ann McIlwaine murdered James Joseph Crossley.

Mother-of-four McIlwaine, 33, from Kilwee Lane in the Dunmurry area of west Belfast, is on trial accused of the murder of Mr Crossley on 2 March 2022.

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The 38-year-old victim sustained fatal stab wounds at McIlwaine’s former home in Filbert Drive also in Dunmurry and the jury have heard while there is broad agreement about how the victim was killed, they would have to decide whether the defendant intended to kill or whether she had suffered a loss of control in the lead up to the fatal wounds being inflicted.

The jury have been told their decision is between whether McIlwaine is guilty of murder or, if they are satisfied that she was suffering from a temporary loss of control, that she is guilty of manslaughter.

In his closing speech on Monday prosecution KC Richard Weir suggested that by plunging a large kitchen knife into the chest and abdomen of the 38-year-old victim “she in fact was taking control.”

“She did not lose her normal power of reasoning,” Mr Weir told the jury, “she had decided that killing him was her best option….we say respectfully, that this is murder.”

On the other hand defence KC Eilish McDermott argued that the circumstances surrounding the killing “is a classic case of loss of self control.”

The jury have heard how McIlwaine and Crossley first began their relationship in January 2020 but that between then and the fatal stabbing around 23.30 on 1 March 2022, there had been periods of separation with incidents of domestic violence, coercive control and verbal abuse interspersed in the relationship which McIlwaine was hiding from her friends, family and Social Services.

The trial continues.