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A woman from west Belfast who fatally stabbed her abusive partner while he was asleep has had her murder conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal. Julie Ann McIlwaine’s loss of control defence, relating to the killing of James Joseph Crossley in March 2022, was found to have been misrepresented to the jury during her original trial. The senior judges ruled that the jury had been improperly directed, resulting in the quashing of her guilty verdict.
McIlwaine, aged 35, had been serving a minimum 12-year sentence for the killing, which occurred at her former residence in Dunmurry. As the appellate decision was announced via videolink from Hydebank Prison, she was visibly emotional. At trial, she admitted to the stabbing but denied murder, asserting that she suffered a temporary loss of control due to prolonged domestic abuse. Crossley, 38, was stabbed multiple times—up to ten—while he lay beside their young child. The relationship had been fraught with emotional manipulation and coercive control, with Crossley on bail for a prior alleged assault and under a restraining order barring contact with McIlwaine.
The background to the tragic incident included a period of separation between the couple, but they had resumed their relationship shortly before the killing. On the night in question, Crossley had taken medication and fallen asleep after a series of arguments, including one where he demanded that McIlwaine choose between him and her family. During police questioning after the incident, McIlwaine revealed that she had contemplated suicide before taking a knife from the kitchen, moving the child, and repeatedly stabbing Crossley. While prosecutors maintained that her actions were rational and controlled, the jury in October 2024 convicted her of murder.
The appeal focused heavily on the manner in which jurors were instructed about the loss of control defence. The trial judge asked if a hypothetical person with similar characteristics to McIlwaine “would” have reacted in the same way, a phrasing the appellate judges found to be too stringent. Instead, the correct legal test should have been whether such a person “might” have reacted similarly. Two forensic psychiatry consultants supported the defence, testifying that a properly guided jury could find McIlwaine met the psychological criteria for loss of self-control given the impact of sustained abuse and the typical behaviour of victims in coercive relationships. Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan emphasized that the misdirection was significant due to the unchallenged expert evidence. With the murder conviction quashed, the prosecution was given two weeks to decide on the next steps in the case
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