A Whitehaven man has been convicted of murder after subjecting his on-off partner to a ferocious and fatal sexual attack after bingeing on lager and cocaine.
Tiffany Render, who was 34, bled to death having suffered a terrible internal injury as she was brutally assaulted by Paul Irwin at his flat in Whitehaven on March 22.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Miss Render died from a massive haemorrhage and that three rooms of 50-year-old Irwin’s home were left blood-stained after he attacked her with punches again and again and again.
A pathologist concluded that 5ft 1in Miss Render, who weighed less than nine stones, was subjected to repeated blunt force trauma by unemployed Irwin.
Having knocked back cans of Stella Artois lager earlier in the day and snorted 10 lines of cocaine during sex in the flat with Miss Render, unemployed Irwin — 5ft 10 and 17 stones — meted out severe violence while off his head, jurors were told.
In evidence, the pathologist said Miss Render could have collapsed within 20 minutes and died within an hour, so savage was the attack and so rapid her blood loss.
The court heard Irwin was handed a suspended prison sentence late last year for repeatedly hitting Miss Render with a wooden rolling pin, slapping and strangling her.
She had since alleged other assaults and, the prosecution alleged, was an extremely vulnerable woman trapped inside an aggressive violent and controlling relationship.
Prosecutor Iain Simkin KC told jurors: “Tiffany Render had become conditioned to obedience, was in thrall to the defendant and, irrespective of the risks to her own well-being, nevertheless visited him on March 22.”
Irwin had twice been arrested and bailed by police with conditions not to contact Miss Render in the weeks before her murder. He called the ambulance service himself, late on March 22, claiming he had woken to find Miss Render dead.
In evidence, Irwin described suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which caused him to hear voices and hallucinate; but insisted his condition was fully medicated and under control in March.
Irwin claimed Miss Render’s death was accidental. But during his trial — after giving evidence — he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, accepting an unlawfully killing, and also admitted a penetrative sexual assault upon her.
Today (fri) after almost four hours of deliberations, a jury of eight women and four men found Irwin unanimously guilty of murder. He showed no emotion in the court dock, wearing a dark suit, as the verdict was delivered.
Trial judge Mrs Justice Foster heard a psychiatric report had been provided to the court by Irwin’s legal team but announced that she would not pass sentence today.
The judge remarked that it had been a “distressing” case and told jurors they would be discharged from serving on future crown court juries for life.
Irwin faces a mandatory life prison sentence with Mrs Justice Foster due to set a minimum term for his service behind bars after hearing from prosecution and defence counsel. His punishment will be handed down on a date in the week of December 16 which is still to be fixed, and he remains remanded in custody.
He must sign the sex offenders’ register with immediate effect.
