Marion Millican killer to appeal

Pacemaker Press 21/9/2012 Marion Millican was was murdered in the Portstewart launderette where she worked in March 2011 Pic Pacemaker

Fred McClenaghan is appealing against a verdict that he killed the mother of four with an antique shotgun at a laundrette where she worked in Portstewart.

On Friday senior judges listed his challenge for a three-day hearing in December.

McClenaghan (50) from Broad Street in Magherafelt, is serving a minimum 16 years behind bars for the March 2011 killing.

He claimed to have accidentally killed Mrs Millican while attempting to shoot himself in front of her.

The victim suffered chest wounds and died at the scene.

She had been in a relationship with McClenaghan which ended months before the shooting.

During the murder trial her husband Ken told how they had been trying to rekindle their marriage at the time she died.

Ken Millican described finding his wife’s body on the floor of the laundrette on the day of the killing, and his failed attempts to locate a pulse.

Last year a jury at Antrim Crown Court rejected McClenaghan’s claims of diminished responsibility and that the shooting was an accident.

Judges in the Court of Appeal will begin hearing his challenge to the murder conviction on December 3.