Dungannon man found guilty of murdering his former fiancée

A County Tyrone man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-fiancée seven years ago.

48-year-old John Miller of Redford Park in Dungannon was unanimously convicted by a jury of killing Charlotte Murray on a date between October 31 and November 2 2012.

The chef, who was the last person to see her alive, was engaged to Ms Murray. He was sentenced to life in prison.

A hearing will take place next month to determine a minimum term.

By their verdict, the jury rejected defence claims Charlotte was either alive or had fallen victim of another killer, and accepted the prosecution contention Miller killed Charlotte in a murderous rage after she'd sent him explicit images of herself in the arms of another man.

In turn they may also have believed that three weeks later he dismembered and disposed of her body using an axe and a saw he'd bought online for the gruesome task, and not as a Christmas present for his dad, as he claimed.

In addition the jury must have rejected Miller's denials from the witness box that, that he had not used Charlotte's mobile phone to send himself text messages to "lay a false trail" in an attempt to show her alive in the days and weeks following her disappearance.

Mr Miller had accepted that in the early hours of the morning before Charlotte disappeared, he'd been on the internet looking up sites to pawn their engagement ring, but claiming this was only after she sent him the explicit images of herself in the arms of another man.

However, the timing of the emails showed that he'd been online looking at the pawn sites some 13 minutes or so before he was sent the images, which the prosecution claimed was "the last straw ... a last humiliation...being shown to be a cuckold" and in his rage killed Charlotte.

Cell site analysis of the use of their mobile phones also demonstrated that Charlotte's phone, "far from being in Belfast" were Miller claimed she'd gone for a job in internet sale, had never left the Moy area.

From the outset of the Crown case, prosecution QC Richard Weir conceded that the case against Miller was "circumstantial", but a strong one nevertheless, and that Charlotte did not simply disappear, she was murdered and murdered by the man she'd proposed marriage to.

But as he reviewed each 'strand' of that circumstantial case the lawyer said repeatedly that it proved "Charlotte is dead and he (Mr Miller) killed her".

Mr Weir also maintained that there was "not one shred of evidence in anything that Charlotte said or done" to show she wanted to disappear without a trace, and had left the Roxborough Heights home she'd shared with Miller without one word of goodbye.

The jury may have accepted this too, and the prosecution contention that while in the witness box Miller's evidence was "riddled with inconsistencies, inaccuracies and down right lies", and that his "hopes" of Charlotte someday walking through the doors of the court would never come true because 'he killed her'.

Miller's past diary entries too must also have been a sham and written at a time when he knew "what happened to Charlotte Murray ... and how she died and where her body is". And that he guessed someone would find the diary notes and read them.

It would seem that his attempts to show Charlotte alive and well, failed in the eyes of the jury, and that the “assiduous, thorough, wide-ranging, comprehensive inquiry” of the police established there was not a shred of evidence to suggest Charlotte is still alive.

Detective Chief Inspector Eamonn Corrigan said: “I welcome today’s conviction of 48 year old John Miller for the murder of Charlotte Murray.

“However Charlotte’s family still need to have her body home so they can give her a proper burial. They haven’t seen her for seven years and deserve to be allowed to say goodbye to her.

“I would appeal to anyone who knows where Charlotte’s body is to come forward and give the information to police so that we can return her to her family.

“Anyone with information should contact detectives on 101 or alternatively phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”