'We've been stripped of our father' - family of Pat McCormick react to sentencing of killer

The daughter of murdered Co Down man Pat McCormick say their family has been 'stripped' of their father.

Morgan McCormick, 18, spoke outside Belfast Crown Court following the sentencing of her father's killer.

"We as a family are relieved to have reached this stage and we remain forever grateful to the police service and to the courts.

"While no amount of jail time will ever bring our dad back, it is the start of justice for me, my brothers and sister, my mum, and my dad's friends and family. "We've been stripped of our father, my dad will never get to see any of us grow up or get married, and he'll never get to hold his future grandkids.

"We leave here today with memories of our dad, who has been taken from us. However, those memories are filled with love and happiness and it is those memories that we will hold onto forever."

David Gill, 30, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of father-of-four Pat McCormick, 55, in Co Down in 2019.

Mr McCormick was lured to a flat in Comber on the evening of May 30 2019, where he believed he was going to meet Gill's fiancee Lesley Ann Dodds, who he had had a brief relationship with.

Dodds, 25, from Queen Victoria Gardens in Belfast, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years after admitting manslaughter, with half to be served in custody.

Three other men who had admitted withholding information in relation to Mr McCormick's killing were also sentenced.

William Gill, 43, from Terrace View in Waringstown, Andrew Leslie, 24, from Mourne Crescent in Moneyrea, and Jonathon Richard Leslie Montgomery, 24, from Castle Espie Road in Comber, were all given suspended sentences.

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