Crossbow killer gets life sentence for 'barbaric' murder of pensioner
28 February 2020, 15:35
A sports therapist has been jailed for life after murdering a pensioner with a crossbow outside his North Wales home.
Terence Whall, 39, will serve a minimum of 31 years after killing 74-year-old Gerald Corrigan with a crossbow in a "barbaric" manner outside his Anglesey home on 19 April last year.
Whall, of Bryngwran, Anglesey, was sentenced at Mold Crown Court in north-east Wales on Friday.
Mr Corrigan, a former lecturer, was shot with a crossbow by the 39-year-old while adjusting the satellite dish on his house in the early hours of the day.
Speaking in court from behind a screen, the victim's son Neale said through tears: "How can someone choose to use such a barbaric weapon on an old man?
"Did they really want to cause him a slow and painful death? Because that is what we witnessed and although God will ease the pain for us, we will never ever be able to forget that."
Whall was also jailed for six years, which will be served alongside his life sentence, for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The 39-year-old plotted to set alight the Land Rover Discovery he was driving on the night Mr Corrigan was shot.
Upon receiving his sentence from the judge, Mrs Justice Jefford, Whall showed no reaction.
Also reading a statement from behind a screen, Mr Corrigan's partner, Marie Bailey, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, said: "It is a terrible inferno inside me every day, thinking of how Gerry was murdered and how he suffered."
The judge, speaking to Whall, added: "You have deprived Mr Corrigan's family of any explanation for what was a horrific death in which Mr Corrigan was completely blameless.
"For your own reasons you clearly had a plan to kill.
"Your arrogant belief that you could get away with murder was misplaced."
Gavin Jones, 36, was also sentenced for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, with the judge saying he was "integrally involved" in the plan to set the car on fire.
His brother Darren Jones, 41, was sentenced to two years and 10 months for arson and Martin Roberts, who turned 35 on the day of sentencing, was jailed for two years and four months for arson.
The trial lasted more than four weeks, with Darren Jones and Roberts admitting to their charges on the fifth day.
