Northern Ireland

Woman on trial for stabbing her partner to death told police ‘I just kept going and going…I think I just blacked out, I don’t even know’

Julie Ann McIlwaine however told police she didn’t want her partner to die

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

A woman on trial for the murder of her partner James Crossley admitted to police that she stabbed him but said she ‘didn’t want him to die’.

Julie Ann McIlwaine also told police how they had been arguing off and on that day but as her victim lay sleeping “I was getting all these thoughts in my head. I didn’t know what was going on…I felt like a psychopath,” the Coleraine Crown Court jury heard.

“I didn’t want me and him to be together. I didn’t want to happen what happened,” the 33-year-old told police who suggested to her “something came over you?”

“I couldn’t stop, I just kept pushing it and pushing it. He said ‘Julie Ann help me’…I took the baby and ran out,” she told the detectives.

McIlwaine, from Hazel Close in the Lagmore 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 in Dunmurry.

The jury have heard, while there is broad agreement about how the victim was killed, they would have to decide whether the defendant had suffered a loss of control in the lead up to the fatal wounds being inflicted.

Pacemaker Press 08-10-2024: Murder accused Julie Ann McIlwaine pictured outside Antrim Court house. Picture By: /Pacemaker Press. 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)
Julie Ann McIlwaine. Picture by Alan Lewis

In her first police interview with police, McIlwaine outlined how they had began a relationship in January 2020 but things went downhill after a few weeks.

McIlwaine told police Mr Crossley had threatened her and her family; threatened that social services would take her children from her and further that at times, he had “followed through” on his threats of violence including “strangling me.”

The jury has heard that at the time of the fatal stabbing, Mr Crossley was on bail for an offence of domestic violence.

It also transpired that during their relationship there were repeat episodes of serious domestic violence, verbal abuse and what amounted to coercive control.

The jury heard how incidents included:

  • Mr Crossley being arrested and put into custody by Spanish police when he choked McIlwaine in a Santa Ponsa hotel in August 2020;
  • “Ramming” McIlwaine’s car off the road in a drunken rage causing £7,000 of damage;
  • that McIlwaine and her children were living in a Women’s Aid refuge for six months in 2021 “to get away” from Crossley;
  • Mr Crossley was subject to a restraining order having been convicted of domestic violence;
  • That McIlwaine was left suffering from PTSD from the incident in October 2021 when Crossley punched and choked her.

The Spanish charges were dropped after McIlwaine discovered she was pregnant and withdrew her statement.

During her police interviews, McIlwaine claimed Mr Crossley had told her “our relationship couldn’t move forward if I didn’t drop them charges.”

With officers addressing what happened on the night of the stabbing, she claimed Mr Crossley gave her the “ultimatum” between him and her family.

McIlwaine told police that as her victim lay sleeping she paced up and down unsure what to do even contemplating taking her own life.

“I just wanted it all to stop,” she told police.

Police heard however that instead she ended up going downstairs and picking out the largest knife from the block before going back to the attic bedroom.

While she maintained to police she could not specify how or why “like a switch flipped,” the jury heard her describe to the jury how she moved the couple’s infant daughter away from Mr Crossley “I didn’t want her getting any blood on her.”

Sobbing at times during the series of interviews, McIlwaine told police “I just kept going and going…I think I just blacked out, I don’t even know.”