Welsh woman has murder sentence backdated

A Welsh woman who murdered a Leitrim man by stabbing him 13 times and then scalding him with boiling water, had her life sentence backdated by 18 months today to allow her time already served to be taken into consideration by the prison parole board.

Christina Williams, aged 25, was last month convicted of the murder of Mr Andrew Foley, aged 54, at his flat on Nelson Street on May 7 2002.

He had been stabbed 13 times with three different knives before being scalded with boiling water as he lay bleeding to death in an armchair in his living room.

Flanked by two prison officers, Christina Williams appeared at the Central Criminal Court for the hearing of her application.

Speaking on her behalf, Mr Gerard O'Brien SC told Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins that the parole board would not take time already served into consideration without an order from the court.

Mr Justice O'Higgins agreed that a "person was entitled to credit for time served".

"It would be unjust if eligibility for parole didn't take into account time already served," he said and backdated Williams' sentence to May 8 2002.

Originally of Berwyn Carmel Road, Holywell, Flintshire in North Wales, Williams had pleaded not guilty to the murder of the Leitrim carpenter at his basement flat in Dublin city centre only hours after meeting him for the first time.