Daniel McBride, a 44-year-old man from Southampton, was convicted of the murder of Majella Lynch, a 51-year-old vulnerable woman, following a trial at Winchester Crown Court. The incident occurred in April 2014 at Ms Lynch's flat in St Mary's Road, Southampton, where McBride carried out a sadistic and perverted sexual assault that led to her death.
The court heard that on the night before the murder, McBride had left his home after an argument with his girlfriend and went out with cocaine, Viagra, and cash, seeking sex of a violent nature. CCTV footage captured him arriving at Ms Lynch's flat in the early hours, appearing sexually frustrated and under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Having consumed cocaine multiple times in the preceding 24 hours, which rendered him impotent, McBride resorted to using a shampoo bottle to inflict horrific internal injuries on Ms Lynch during the assault.
Mr Justice Akenhead, sentencing McBride to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 years, described the crime as 'brutal, merciless, horrible and disgusting', committed against an essentially decent but very vulnerable woman in the privacy of her own home. The judge noted McBride's refusal to attend the sentencing hearing as a 'total lack of courage or remorse or even respect toward his victim'. He highlighted that the attack was 'horrific, humiliating and sadistic', and that McBride had cleared up the scene using latex gloves left by Ms Lynch's carers before leaving her doubled up in pain.
Majella Lynch, the youngest of three children from a happy family, had worked at the Coal Board and the NHS. Described as an attractive woman with many friends, her life deteriorated after giving up her son for adoption and the deaths of her parents in 1996 and 1998, leading to chronic alcoholism. She was a well-known local figure, often seen outside her flat with a can of Special Brew, and lived a lonely existence.
McBride had an extensive criminal history, including a previous life sentence in the late 1990s for violent crimes such as aggravated burglary, wounding with intent, robbery, and possession of a shotgun. He was on licence at the time of the offence. Detective Chief Inspector Ellie Hurd of Hampshire Constabulary stated: 'McBride carried out a horrific, humiliating and sadistic attack on an extremely vulnerable woman for his own perverted purposes. He callously inflicted horrendous internal injuries to her, leaving her to die a prolonged and, no doubt, excruciatingly painful death.'
Ms Lynch was discovered by her carer in agony and rushed to hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries two days later. The case was reported by the BBC on 29 July 2015, following McBride's guilty verdict.