Woman guilty of manslaughter for Holy Cross killing

A woman has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a teenager who was knocked off his bicycle at the height of the Holy Cross…

A woman has been found guilty of the manslaughter of a teenager who was knocked off his bicycle at the height of the Holy Cross school dispute in Belfast in 2001.

Alison McKeown (32) was found not guilty of murdering 16-year-old Thomas McDonald at the Whitewell interface when she mounted a kerb and knocked him off his cycle in September 2001.

Giving his verdict at Belfast Crown Court today, Lord Justice McCollum said he was convinced that McKeown, from North Belfast, had deliberately driven the car with the intention of causing the teenager serious injury after he had thrown a brick at the vehicle.

The defendant lost control when her car was hit by the brick in what Lord Justice McCollum described as a calculated and unprovoked assault.

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McKeown was remanded in custody and will be sentenced later.

Outside the court, Thomas's parents described the judge's verdict as a joke. Mrs McDonald said: "I have to go home and tell a two-year-old that she has to talk to a photograph of her brother and she will never, ever see him".