A woman who murdered her "drinking partner" by beating him with a bat and pushing him down a flight of stairs has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years.
Cheryl O'Callaghan was unanimously found guilty of the murder of Adrian Swift by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court in December. The 57-year-old victim told a 999 call that he had been "battered s***less" at their home on Bishopsgate Street in Wavertree before his death.
His killer appeared back before the court this afternoon, Friday, via video link to HMP Styal to be sentenced. She wiped away tears with a tissue as she was handed the life imprisonment.
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Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "You were prone to extreme violence when in drink. Alcohol was the central drumbeat of this house.
"I’m satisfied you were someone who liked your own way and would not be told what to do. I am satisfied with your characterisation as a violent bully.
"You were the dominant voice in the house, and what you said went. You bullied Adrian Swift regularly.
"You gave him a beating from which he never recovered. I am satisfied and sure that you kicked Adrian Swift’s head, ribs and abdomen and that you stamped on his throat.
"In reality, this was a motiveless attack. He did nothing to provoke this attack."
Peter Finnegan KC, defending, earlier told the court that the lifestyles of those involved "involved turbulence, violence, drinking and arrest". O’Callaghan, who has 12 previous convictions for 16 offences, left school at 15 without qualifications and taught herself to read and write.
The eldest sibling of four, her younger sister died aged 16 - which the then 20-year-old "took very hard". Mr Finnegan added: "That was a turning point, she sought solace in alcohol and alcohol has been a part of her life ever since.
"Sometimes she has managed to become sober and get away from it. Other times she has been in the vortex of it.
"She hasn’t worked for many years. She has children herself, who have been supportive during this period.
"She's had a long term drug dependency. She has been addicted in the past to heroin.
"This is the life she has led, and she reached middle life having had those dependencies throughout her life - she has had mental health issues as well, hardly surprisingly given this background.
"There was no intention to kill. That is a substantial mitigating feature, as is the fact there is no evidence of premeditation - something has happened to cause this terrible event to take place."
A trial previously heard that Mr Swift had "led a life afflicted by addictions to alcohol and drugs" and by the time of his death was "frail, unwell and vulnerable". Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, told jurors that in March 2021 he had been living at the address with O’Callaghan, her boyfriend Steven Hardaker and a fourth housemate, Adam Oldland.
On March 23 that year, the day before his death, he was taken to hospital after a 999 call in which he told the operator he had been "battered s***less". Mr Swift also stated to paramedics that 46-year-old O'Callaghan, of Stanton Crescent in Kirkby, had beaten him with a bat and pushed him down a flight of stairs.
The following morning, he discharged himself and returned to the property despite sustaining "serious facial and bodily injuries". Three hours later, 51-year-old Oldland - of Sunnyside, Sefton Park - alerted the emergency services to Mr Swift's death.
O'Callaghan claimed that she had only become aware that Mr Swift was injured the previous day when the ambulance arrived at the property. Describing herself as a "functioning alcoholic", she said on the witness box that she had spent the day listening to music on her headphones in the living room with the door closed.
The killer said in her evidence: "I'd noticed the ambulance, I'd noticed it pull up outside. I shouted up, 'why is there an ambulance outside the door?' - Steven said Adrian had fell down the stairs drunk."
Mr Swift subsequently told doctors he had "been assaulted by his housemate" and recalled waking on the floor with his injuries. When spoken to by police, he declined to make a formal complaint and said he did not intend to return to the house.
But, shortly before 8.30am on March 24, the musician discharged himself and took a taxi back to Bishopsgate Street. He died at around 11.30am the same day as a result of his injuries.
Hardaker, also 51 and of Aigburth Drive in Sefton Park, and Oldland both admitted perverting the course of justice after giving a false account to emergency services that Mr Swift had sustained his injuries during a fall and then drowned in the bath. They were today locked up for 25 months each.
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