Wombwell murderer will ‘die behind bars’

Ian Birley (43), of Mont Walk, Wombwell, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of murdering 65-year-old John Gogarty.

His accomplice and girlfriend, Helen Nichols (39), of the same address, was told she will serve a minimum of 20 years.

Mr Gogarty’s daughter Nicola branded Birley a “coward” and said he should never have been released from prison after serving 18 years for killing another man, 69-year-old, Maurice Hoyle in similar circumstances in November 1995.

Ms Gogarty said in a statement read outside court following the sentencing on Monday that she would never forgive the killing couple.

She said: “You are a coward Birley, you have sat there and denied it all.

“I will never forgive you for taking away a precious grandfather from my three children.”

She added “Our family are good, decent, normal people.

“We are from a small fishing village in Ireland near the sea and we never thought violence of this extreme nature would come knocking on our door.

“I do not believe the defendants will ever know the loss they have inflicted on our family.

“He was my father and protector I adored him, I am heartbroken for ever more to know the violent death he suffered at the hands of Birley, and added to that to find out he had already been convicted of murder of another elderly man in his own home and should never have been back on the streets.”

Birley was 23 when he was sentenced to life imprisonment for Mr Hoyle’s murder but was released on license in December 2013 and killed Mr Gogarty 18 months later, stabbing him 69 times and robbing him to pay off a drug debt.

Nichols admitted to withdrawing £500 from the victim’s bank but said she did not know Birley, who denied any involvement, was going to kill him on July 13.

The pair stole watches from the pensioner’s home, plus £80 in cash and champagne which they drank after the killing.

Mr Gogarty’s body was discovered four days later by his son, John Gogarty Jnr and his ex-wife Alison Field.

The couple were arrested by police ten days later after a cash machine receipt Nichols put back into Mr Gogarty’s pocket was traced.

CCTV of the withdrawal showed Nichols at the Barclays Bank ATM on Wombwell High Street.

The couple burned their clothes and the knife used in the attack in woodland near their flat, but a T-shirt with Mr Gogarty’s blood on was recovered from their home.

The court also heard Nichols scoured the blood-stained notes clean and Birley tried to sell the watches.

Nichols took police to the burnt-out debris three days after she was arrested, and before sentencing wrote a letter to the judge expressing her remorse.

The jury found both defendants guilty of murder and robbery.

The court heard Birley had been in prison five times since 1989 and in 1995 stabbed Mr Hoyle in his Barnsley home, ransacked the house, stole watches and burned the evidence in woodland.

Nichols was described as a committed shoplifter with 40 offences for dishonesty, drugs, criminal damage and assault and has been in prison on seven occasions.

When the verdict was read out, Birley showed no emotion in the dock while Nichols bowed her head.

His Honour Mr Justice King said Birley had not shown any remorse through the trial and would never been eligible for parole.

Birley was sentenced to 16 years for robbery and Nichols 12 years, with both to run concurrent.