Valliday guilty of 'Bap' murder
The mother of Thomas 'Biddy' Valliday wept and shouted out after he was convicted of the murder of IRA veteran Francis 'Bap' McGreevy.
Friday, 05 February 2010
The 51-year-old father of two was found brutally beaten in his Ross Street flat on March 15, 2008. He died three days later in hospital from multiple head injuries.
Valliday, from nearby Lady Street, admitted fighting with the convicted IRA killer but claimed two nameless men were responsible for the "vile, brutal and violent" attack which led to his death.
Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Hart told Valliday, 22, that the law proscribed only one sentence for murder, life.
However, he told Valliday, who showed no emotion at the guilty verdict, that next month he will fix the minimum tariff he must serve before he can be considered for release on parole.
Before calling back the jury to deliver their verdict, Mr Justice Hart had warned that any "sound, disruption or incident whatsoever from the public gallery" would result in it being cleared immediately.
After the verdict, Valliday's mother shouted out and had to be restrained by her husband who led her from the public gallery.
It had taken the jury of eight women and four men eight hours and twenty minutes over two days to unanimously convict Valliday at the end of a 15-day trial.
Valliday maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
By their verdict, the jury rejected his claim that he was incapable of such a brutal attack, although he admitted that at one stage he had punched Mr McGreevy.
Giving evidence Valliday claimed he had no memory of attacking him and even declared: "I can say bluntly I couldn't have done anything like that. I don't think I would be capable of doing anything like that."
However, the jury have accepted the prosecution case that he was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he battered Mr McGreevy with a variety of possible weapons including a pick-axe handle and two brush shafts, one metal, the other wooden.
The trial heard that in the aftermath of the attack, Valliday attacked two other men and two cars in the nearby Clonard area.
He gave himself up to police the following day after his father and uncle threatened to hold him for police if he refused.
However, during his interviews he changed his account from initially claiming he had just fought with Mr McGreevy outside his flat, to later finding him injured in the flat after seeing two men running from it.
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