Man who murdered wife with Samurai sword has sentence backdated by three years

A man who murdered his wife with a Samurai sword and showed no remorse for years before entering a late guilty plea has had his life sentence backdated by three years.

The sentencing judge had refused to backdate William Eagers’s sentence to the date he entered custody, as she considered the distress caused to the victim’s family and the “very late” plea as aggravating factors.

However, at the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham said that, in recognition of his guilty plea, Eagers (63) was entitled to have his life sentence backdated to take into account the three years he spent in custody before he was jailed.

Eagers pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife of 34 years, Jean Eagers, in their home at Willow Wood Grove in Clonsilla, north Dublin, on June 21st, 2020, a Father’s Day.

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Mother-of-two Ms Eagers (57) died of her wounds at the house. A family member raised the alarm and the Garda Armed Support Unit forced entry to the house following a stand-off with Eagers and found Jean on the floor with serious injuries.

Medical personnel found Jean in the sitting room, but she was unresponsive and had no pulse. They recorded 16 stab wounds to her body and attempted CPR, but were unsuccessful.

At the trial in the Central Criminal Court in March, Eagers entered a plea of guilty but Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring noted the plea was entered on March 10th, 2023, 10 days before his trial was due to take place. She did not backdate his life sentence and said it would commence from March 10th. The court heard the defendant has been in custody since June 21st, 2020, the day of the killing.

Ms Justice Ring said: “I note the family’s victim impact statements and the distress that the past three years has caused to them. This matter was resolved at a very, very late stage in the proceedings. The court is aware this is an aggravating element for victims and families in cases such as this. I won’t give him credit for time spent in custody for the past three years. He will commence his sentence from the date of his plea on March 10.”

[ Husband of Jean Eagers charged with her murder ]

At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Sean Guerin SC, for Eagers, said that while there had been a “lateness” of entering a plea, a guilty plea was “always a mitigating factor”, and that should have been taken into account by the trial judge.

Mr Guerin said his client was now aged 63, meaning Eagers would have been eligible for consideration for parole at 75 had the sentence been backdated. Counsel said the failure to do so meant there was a “real consequence” for his client, who would now have to wait until he was 78 for parole consideration.

In adjusting the sentence to commence on June 21st, 2020, Mr Justice Birmingham said there had been a “departure from the norm” in the Central Criminal Court in not backdating the sentence.

Mr Justice Birmingham said it had been an “extraordinarily serious and tragic case for everyone involved”.

He said the accused “always receives some credit in plea” and there was an expectation that mitigation would be taken into account on the sentence imposed.