NMA Fan Used Girlfriend As Punchbag During Relationship Before M3rdering Her

NMA Fan Used Girlfriend As Punchbag During Relationship Before M3rdering Her

A controlling thug with a horrific history of violence murdered his girlfriend after she questioned him about seeing other women.

Kevin Mannion, 45, stabbed 22-year-old Elinor O’Brien in the groin in a “rageful and violent attack” after the couple rowed in his Manchester city centre apartment on August 16 last year.

A three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard how Mannion murdered Miss O’Brien after violently assaulting her several times throughout their eight-month relationship.

Just two days before Miss O’Brien died Mannion, who has previous convictions for violence, stabbed her in the breast.

She had complained to police previously about being the victim of domestic abuse, but was too frightened to name Mannion as her cowardly attacker.

After stabbing Miss O’Brien at his apartment he called 999 and claimed she had been accidentally “pierced” by “something in her belongings” when he had thrown her bags at her during an argument.

And as Mannion concocted increasingly desperate lies in a selfish bid to save his own skin, it was obvious that Miss O’Brien, a young woman more than two decades his junior, was terrified of him.

She did everything she could to avoid Mannion’s vengeful wrath, knowing just what he was capable of.

When questioned by friends and family about injuries she’d suffered at Mannion’s hand, Miss O’Brien invented a violent ex-boyfriend to try and explain away the black eyes and bruises.

She used a false name at hospital, and was petrified at the thought of being seen with police and labelled a ‘grass’. She also made up stories to cover for Mannion’s violent rages.

Even as Miss O’Brien lay in an ambulance fighting for her life, she refused to name the man who had inflicted what would prove to be a fatal injury.

At his murder trial, Mannion said he had no idea how Miss O’Brien had been injured, and insisted he had found her lying in the hallway outside the flat before getting help.

But a jury saw through his lies and found him guilty of murder; wounding with intent; and coercive or controlling behaviour.

Mannion showed no emotion as the jury returned its unanimous verdicts after a day of deliberation.

Judge Neil Flewitt KC told Mannion: “The only sentence that I can impose on count 1 [murder] on this indictment is life imprisonment. I have to determine the minimum term and I need some help from all counsel.”

Mannion will be sentenced on March 9.

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