Jury considers verdict in Charlotte Murray murder trial
The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering his ex-fiancée Charlotte Murray, missing for nearly seven years, has retired to consider its verdict.
John Miller, 48 and from Redford Park in Dungannon, is charged with murdering the 34-year-old woman sometime between 31 Oct and 2 November 2012.
Charlotte Murray, originally from Omagh, vanished without a trace and her body has never been found.
During a four-week trial, the jury heard that Miller is convinced his former partner is “still alive” and that he will not believe she is dead until “the day a body is found”.
The prosecution claim Miller murdered Charlotte Murray and disposed of her body - something he has continually denied.
The trial heard how there were a number of unconfirmed sightings of Charlotte Murray in Birmingham, London, Belfast, Monaghan and Edinburgh after she was allegedly killed.
An extensive police search across the British Isles also found 41 Charlotte Murrays on record - they were all ruled out as being the missing Co Tyrone woman.
The jury also heard how Interpol was involved in trying to find Charlotte Murray.
The defence argue that no one can be “sure” she is dead, but the prosecution claim she would have come forward and not left Miller “swinging in the wind”.
The couple lived together in Roxborough Heights in Moy and were engaged before she disappeared.
The prosecution believe Miller killed Charlotte Murray in a murderous rage after she sent him explicit sexual images of herself with another man.
The defence told the jury in summing up that Miller was not a “murderous cuckold” and he was not “in the slightest” involved in her death.
Every day, the families of both John Miller and Charlotte Murray have sat in the public gallery.
On Monday, the judge advised the jury that it was for them to weigh up the evidence and come to a verdict – they were also invited to consider a verdict of manslaughter if they believed Miller killed Charlotte Murray, but did not intend to cause serious harm.
They retired and deliberated for around 90 minutes, before being sent home for the day.