A murder trial jury has taken just over three hours to find mother-of-two Lisa Thompson’s former lover guilty of strangling her with a blind cord and stabbing her to death in her own home.
Evidence was heard that Ms Thompson – who was found with 11 stab wounds to her chest and the bloodstained cord wrapped around her neck – was dealing prescription drugs from her home.
Brian McHugh with an address at Cairn Court, Poppintree, Ballymun in Dublin 11, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Thompson (52) at Sandyhill Gardens, Ballymun in Dublin 11 on May 9th 2022.
A forensic scientist told the Central Criminal Court trial that the blind cord contained McHugh’s DNA, while the prosecution argued that he could be seen on CCTV footage near Ms Thompson’s home on the night of the killing.
Huge blow for Clare as Shane O’Donnell to miss rest of the season
Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland fined €452,790 for failing to report suspicious trades
Investigation under way into deaths of actor Gene Hackman and musician wife Betsy Arakawa
This Dublin office block sold for €106 million in 2018. It’s about to change hands for €50 million
When asked to account for the presence of his DNA on the cord, McHugh told gardaí that he had been “in and out” of Ms Thompson’s house “for the last three years”.
The jury has also heard that DNA recovered from jewellery found in the defendant’s home also matched that of Ms Thompson.
The 12 jurors unanimously rejected McHugh’s defence that Ms Thompson was a “woman of secrets” and that there was more to her killing “than would appear on the surface”.
Defence counsel for McHugh, Brendan Grehan SC with Karl Monahan BL, also submitted in his closing address that this was not “the neat case wrapped up in a bow” which the prosecution had presented to the jury.
They instead agreed with Fiona Murphy SC alongside David Perry BL that the prosecution had “meticulously presented a tapestry of circumstantial evidence”, where each thread had been interwoven, painting a “compelling picture” of McHugh’s guilt.
Evidence has been given that gardaí searching Ms Thompson’s home found thousands of prescription tablets worth nearly €50,000 hidden in her attic and that she and McHugh (40) had a “bit of a fling” in the year before she died.
Following the verdict, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor thanked the four men and eight women of the jury for their patience and commitment throughout the trial, saying she was very grateful to them all.
The judge offered her “sincere condolences” to the Thompson family and thanked them for their dignity throughout the trial. “I cannot imagine your pain and what you have suffered in terms of your grief. I want to thank you for the manner you represented your beloved throughout this procedure,” she said.
Ms Justice O’Connor will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to McHugh on March 10th and remanded the defendant in custody until that date.
On that date, the Thompson family will have an opportunity to make a statement to the court about the impact her death has had on their lives.
