A man has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years for murdering his former partner in a “vicious, unrelenting” attack at her home in County Antrim.
William Finlay, 68, was sentenced at Belfast crown court on Thursday for stabbing Alyson Nelson, 64, a retired nurse, in April 2022 at her house in Whitehead.
Finlay is the first person in Northern Ireland to be convicted and sentenced for murder aggravated by domestic abuse under new legislation.
The court heard that the motive was jealousy and that Finlay used a knife and latex gloves in a premeditated attack that inflicted multiple stab wounds to Nelson’s cheek, chin, neck, jaw, chest, back and arms. The fatal wound cut blood vessels in her neck.
Nelson’s family said she was a beloved mother and grandmother who was “constantly bubbling with life” and had cared for relatives, including her husband when he was dying of cancer.
They expressed relief that legal proceedings had ended and said the pain and sorrow was immeasurable. “It will continue to be so in the weeks, months and even the years ahead,” the family said.
Finlay and Nelson met online and started a relationship in December 2018. After the relationship ended in 2020 he moved out of her home, with her help, to nearby Old Forde Gardens.
The prosecution said that in April 2022 Nelson was in a new relationship that made Finlay jealous. CCTV footage showed that on 16 April 2022 he called at her home in Victoria Avenue, exiting about a minute later wiping a knife on a cloth and walking away. The judge said Nelson’s wounds were “classic defensive injuries” and that she died quickly.
Police found Finlay at his home with blood-stained clothes, latex gloves and the knife, which had been cleaned. He initially denied responsibility before pleading guilty in November 2023.
Mr Justice O’Hara said Finlay had had trouble adapting to civilian life after serving in the navy for 25 years. He had been married twice and had convictions for harassing and assaulting his first wife.
The judge said there was no reason to believe Finlay’s claim to remember nothing of the attack on Nelson. He said: “It was the opposite of a spontaneous act committed in the heat of an emotional moment.” The judge said the killer was trying to clean up the evidence when he was arrested and that his expressions of remorse through his lawyer were “deeply unconvincing”.
O’Hara said the victim’s family had suffered incalculable loss. He said: “She is no longer around to spoil her grandchildren or even to see and hold the youngest one, who was born in August after her death.”
