victim impact | 

Man who murdered pregnant Irish mum told ‘you’re worse than monster’ as he’s jailed

“Untold devastation has been inflicted by you on our family,” the killer was told.

Thu 24 Aug 2023 at 16:48

A roofer who killed his girlfriend and their unborn baby girl in a frenzied attack with a pair of scissors did not have the courage to face the victim’s family in court today as he was jailed for 27 years.

Sadistic Liam Taylor, 37, stabbed Ailish Walsh, 40 times at her home in Rectory Road, Stoke Newington, north London, on December 15 last year.

He slashed the mother-of-four a dozen times to her face, including her eye.

Some of the stab wounds were directed at the 22 week old foetus and his partner’s genitals because Taylor had two daughters and wanted a son, the Old Bailey heard.

He also battered her around the head with a 15kg dumbell.

Prosecutor Jane Osborne said: “Ailish had told more than one person that the defendant was upset about the pregnancy because he wanted a a boy.

“Some of the injuries were deliberately aimed at the unborn child.”

Passing sentence Judge Nigel Lickley told Taylor over the video link: “You assaulted Ailish with a ferocious, brutal and savage attack.

“You used a weapon and targeted parts of her face, abdomen and genitals with the intention to disfigure her.

“The attack had elements, which I find sadistic in nature’.

The judge added: “I have to distinguish between genuine remorse and feeling sorry for yourself.

“Attending in person might have indicated real remorse.”

Members of the victim’s family hurled abuse at Taylor as they left court.

Ms Walsh, 28, had been trying to break up with Taylor because she thought he was seeing another woman and had found him taking cocaine.

Taylor, who went out to buy rum, coke and cigarettes after the killing slaying, told police ‘that won’t bring her back though will it’ when he was arrested.

He added: ‘It’s crazy how one moment of madness can change your whole life.’

Ms Walsh had four children aged between six and 10 from a previous marriage in Ireland.

Taylor was jailed for a year in 2020 for beating his mother in the head and face with a metal pole.

On the day of the murder, Taylor and Ms Walsh were messaging about going Christmas shopping after work.

Ms Walsh worked in St James Kitchen cafe in Walthamstow and had told colleagues how excited she was about the pregnancy.

At 3pm, Ms Walsh texted Taylor and asked about another woman and whether he had been ‘talking to her.’

Taylor said he went to school with the woman but said he had not ‘done anything with her’.

Ms Walsh did not believe him and told him to leave the flat and that she was going to pack her things.

Taylor told his boss he needed the next day off to move out of the flat.

Ms Walsh went home and discovered Taylor taking cocaine.

She text her father saying she wanted him out of the flat because he was taking drugs.

Her father’s friend rang her at 21.09 and heard a commotion, muffled noise and Ms Walsh screaming ‘no’.

Taylor was heard saying ‘you can’t do that to me, I won’t let you do that to me.’

A neighbour heard the scream over her noise cancelling headphones.

Ms Walsh’s father Larry Goulding went to the flat with his friend Joseph Crean.

Ms Osborne said earlier: ‘When they got to the flat, the main door downstairs was open as was the door to the flat.

“They went in looking for Ms Walsh but the layout of the flat was such that when the front door was open, the door to the bedroom was obscured.

“Larry Goulding went straight to the lounge of the flat but as Mr Crean closed the front door to the flat, he saw the legs of a female on the floor in the bedroom and shouted for Mr Goulding.

“As the two men entered the bedroom, they could see Ms Walsh on the floor.

“There was a 15kg dumbbell on her right leg and there was a pair of scissors on the floor. There was blood all over the carpet.

“Ms Walsh was covered from the waist upwards by two or three jackets which had been laid over her covering her upper body and her face.

“When Mr Goulding entered the room, he immediately removed the jackets and pulled Ms Walsh into his lap.

“Her face was then visible and was badly hurt, swollen and bloody.

“Neither of the two men had mobile telephones with them so Mr Crean ran from the flat to see whether he could find a passer-by to call the police.

“He managed to persuade a male in the street to allow him to use his phone and called for the emergency services.

‘”They were directed to the top floor flat and found Larry Goulding still cradling his daughter in his lap on the floor.

“Ailish Walsh was not breathing and although the officers carried out CPR until the ambulance crew arrived, her injuries had already proved fatal.

‘The post-mortem would later reveal that one of the stab wounds had severed her jugular vein.’

Her father told police he thought Taylor was responsible and showed them his photo.

Ms Walsh and Taylor were seen on CCTV entering the flat together at 8.36pm, with Taylor wearing a blue t-shirt, black gilet, dark blue hat, light trousers.

At 9.06pm Taylor left the property in a black coat and pyjama style bottoms, holding a can of drink, before returning at 21.08pm.

At 9.14pm he left again wearing a khaki green t-shirt and blue jeans.

Ms Osborne said: ‘The defendant, having spent two minutes outside the property, can properly be inferred to have re-entered the property, armed himself with the scissors and/or the dumbbell and attacked Ms Walsh with such ferocity that at 9.09pm the struggle between them could be heard, with the defendant described as breathless.

‘Within five minutes of that telephone call, the totality of the injuries had been inflicted on the deceased, the defendant had covered her with coats, taken her phone, changed his clothing, and left the property.’

Taylor went to the White Hart pub on Stoke Newington High Street and told the bar tender he had been attacked, before ordering a triple rum and coke.

He visited a supermarket and bought a packet of B&H Super Kings cigarettes and a packet of Durex Pleasure Me condoms.

The killer then sent a text to Ms Walsh’s dad’s friend on her mobile phone saying ‘it’s OK liam angry I attacked him were sorting things out please ring him. Xxxxx’.

Taylor went to another flat he had access to in Seymour Road, Haringey, where he and Ms Walsh had previously lived and neighbours saw him drunk in the corridor.

He was arrested at the flat on 16 December 2022.

There was evidence of cocaine use in the flat with small bags, rolled up paper and traces of white powder.

He told police he had been taking cocaine, cannabis and alcohol.

In 2015, Taylor was imprisoned for 12 months for head-butting his 16-year-old sister and in 2020 he was convicted for hitting his mother repeatedly to the head and face with a metal pole.

The couple’s neighbour heard arguments between them in the lead up to the murder.

They had been in a relationship since 2021.

Ms Walsh’s father Laurence Goulding said in a victim impact statement summarised to court how difficult it was to have to bury his daughter, and that he is angry she is gone.

He said he felt isolated as he has a terminal illness and Ailish had been his carer before her death.

Matthew Perry, the father of Ms Walsh’s young children called Taylor ‘a f**king scumbag’ in an impact statement he gave from the witness box.

‘You have subjected innocent children to a lifetime of asking questions,’ he said.

“No person deserves to be subjected to that torture. You are worse than a monster. Untold devastation has been inflicted by you on our family.

“My children are terrified that one day you will be given the opportunity to leave prison.’

Mr Perry added that Ms Walsh was “kind smart, caring and willing to give anyone a chance including you, you f*cking scumbag.”

The prosecution argued Taylor intended to kill the unborn baby but did not bring a charge of child destruction as the baby was within the legal limit for abortion and would not have survived outside the womb.

Taylor, previously of Rectory Road, Stoke Newington, admitted murder.

His barrister said Taylor he had not attended court because he was not feeling ‘extremely well’ but he was listening to ‘every word’ on the court video link.

Earlier this week baby killer Lucy Letby refused to come into court to be sentenced leading to calls that she should be forced to face the families of her victims.