‘Horror’ murder appeal

But lawyers for the man convicted of stabbing Gerald O’Hagan 15 times in Londonderry claimed the trial which led to his conviction was flawed.

Paul James Morrin, 46, is serving a minimum 20-year sentence for killing the 19-year-old victim in February 2006.

Mr O’Hagan was knifed repeatedly in the back and once in the neck, severing the jugular vein, during an attack at a flat in Galliagh Park.

During Morrin’s trial the court heard that he deliberately took a photograph of the victim’s body on his mobile phone.

Opening his appeal against the conviction, senior counsel Brian McCartney QC said this version was disputed.

The camera facility was accidentally activated as Morrin retrieved the ringing mobile from the victim’s pocket, it was claimed.

Morrin, a former process operator with Seagate in Derry, was described as a shy, lonely man who had been drinking with Mr O’Hagan hours earlier.

He claimed to have woke in his flat, still drunk, and then found the victim’s blood-soaked body lying in a bedroom.

Mr McCartney told the court: “What happened to precipitate the attack on Gerald O’Hagan will perhaps never be known with complete certainty.

“What is clear beyond question, however, is that he was the victim of a horrendous and sustained attack in which a knife with a seven inch blade was used to stab him.”

One ground of appeal was that the trial judge erred by failing to give the jury adequate assistance when they asked if the forensic scientist had identified a smudge on the wall as being from the assailant or someone else unidentified.

Mr McCartney argued that a highly significant defence point was “neutralised” by an answer that was not quite accurate or sufficient.

He insisted there was no evidence to prove who the smudge mark belonged to.

A further challenge centred on claims that the burden of proof in the case had wrongly switched to Morrin proving his innocence.

“He is having to raise evidence to show he is not guilty when, in fact, the prosecution should be producing evidence based on a very reasonable line of inquiry that he is guilty,” Mr McCartney added. The appeal continues.