Julie Ann McIlwaine: Woman guilty of murdering partner

The defence said McIlwaine was suffering from a temporary “stress reaction” brought on by the trauma of her abusive relationship and Eilish McDermott KC told the jury that her actions had to be “viewed through the lens of the fact she was in a relationship of violence and coercive control”.

The prosecution told the court that the defendant’s “rational choices” on the night of the stabbing proved that she was in control of what she was doing.

Richard Weir KC told the court “there is evidence of bad choices, very bad choices, but not of loss of self control”.

On the day he was killed, the court heard James Crossley and McIlwaine had been arguing on and off.

He had told her she would need to “choose between him and her family” and took medication and went to sleep in bed beside their 10-month-old baby.

In police interviews played to the court, Julie Ann McIlwaine told police that “it all just got on top of me” and she thought about taking her own life.

“I was getting all these thoughts in my head. I didn’t know what was going on. I felt like a psychopath,” she said.

She described to police how she went downstairs to the kitchen, took the biggest knife there and went back to the attic room where Mr Crossley was asleep beside the infant.

“I set the baby to the end of the bed. I knew to get her out of the way. I didn’t want to get blood on her’.

Julie Ann McIlwaine then stabbed Mr Crossley 10 times.