Ailish Walsh, 28, was found dead at a flat in Stoke Newington
(Picture: GoFundMe)A man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend with a pair of scissors in an “exceptionally brutal” attack has appeared at the Old Bailey.
Ailish Walsh, 28, suffered more than 40 puncture wounds allegedly at the hands of 37-year-old Liam Taylor at her home in Stoke Newington, east London.
Police were called at about 10.20pm on December 15 to reports of an unresponsive woman at the address in Rectory Road.
The mother of four, who was 22 weeks pregnant, was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Wednesday, Taylor, from Hackney, appeared at the Old Bailey by videolink from custody charged with murder.
Prosecutor Jane Osborne KC described the attack on Walsh as “exceptionally brutal”.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC set a plea hearing for March 8 and a three-week trial at the Old Bailey from October 16 next year.
Taylor was remanded into custody.
Friends claimed the mother had recently found out she was going to give birth to a baby girl.
Family friends are trying to raise money in her memory to get her body flown back to her native Ireland.
Organiser Teresa Cannon wrote: “[She] was a beautiful amazing young woman of 28 with 4 young children and a little girl on the way.
“I would like to try and raise as much money as we can to help the family with the funeral costs and getting Ailish back home to Ireland to put her at rest and be back with her family.
“I know times are hard at the moment, but you cannot imagine how hard this is for her family and children so please, please, no matter how much or how little, every penny will help.”
The GoFundMe page had raised more than £9,300 by Wednesday lunchtime.
