Stephen McKinney fails in bid to have his sentence reduced for murder of his wife on boating trip to County Fermanagh

Senior judges rejected claims the minimum 20-year sentence imposed on Stephen McKinney for killing Lu Na McKinney at Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh in April 2017 was too severe.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan held that pre-mediation had been properly established in the “horrific” circumstances of the victim’s death.

She confirmed: “Without any hesitation, the tariff imposed by the trial judge was not manifestly excessive.”

The body of Mrs McKinney, 35, was recovered from the water near a jetty at Devenish Island, where the couple were moored on a family cruise with their two young children.

Her 47-year-old husband, originally from Fintona in Co Tyrone, denied the killing.

McKinney claimed she fell into the water while on deck to check mooring ropes, and that he tried to save her.

In a circumstantial case, detectives believed he poured large water containers over himself to make it seem he had gone into the lough after his wife.

McKinney was found guilty of murder in 2021 by a jury at Dungannon Crown Court who accepted the prosecution case that it was no boating accident.

Following a failed appeal against the conviction, he mounted a further challenge to the sentence imposed.

Defence counsel argued there was another potentially more favourable scenario than one of premeditated murder.

Brian McCartney KC also disputed an assessment that Mrs McKinney’s killing was aggravated by her husband’s coercive and controlling behaviour throughout their marriage.

Setting out how the couple spent seven years living in China following their wedding, the barrister submitted: “There is nothing throughout that time which shows that description was applicable.”

But the court also heard their relationship came under stress in later years, with the victim considering how to divorce McKinney amid allegations of being forced into sexual activities against her will.

Michael Chambers KC, prosecuting, advanced a possible scenario where Mrs McKinney had been roused from her sleep while doped on sedatives and brought onto the deck in a disorientated state.

“This was a premeditated decision by the defendant to take her out in an isolated location and put her in the water,” he argued.

“There’s something worse about a husband doing this to his wife, lulling her into a false sense of security that she was safe and then doing what he did.”

McKinney, who was brought into court in handcuffs by prison guards, sat impassive throughout the hearing.

Dismissing all his grounds of challenge, the Chief Justice highlighted how he chose not to give evidence at trial.

“There is no identified scenario in which the jury could have convicted the appellant which did not involve premeditation,” she said.

Dame Siobhan identified “ample evidence” for the trial judge’s determination that McKinney was coercive and controlling towards his wife, an aggravating factor leading to higher prison sentences.

Emphasising that no jail term can “right to the wrong done to this defenceless victim”, the Chief Justice praised the resilience of Mrs McKinney’s surviving daughter.

“We hope she will be able to rebuild her life, that the sentence we uphold will provide some solace and satisfaction that the appellant was brought to justice and properly punished for his cruel actions which he thought he could get away with.”