'Monster' gets 23 years for his girlfriend's murder

Kevin Mannion, 45, stabbed Elinor O’Brien in the groin in a ‘rage-filled and violent attack’ after the pair rowed in his city centre apartment when she questioned him about seeing other women.

- AMY WALKER

A ‘PATHETIC monster’ has been jailed for life after murdering his girlfriend following months of abuse, before looking to ‘shift the blame’ onto her during his trial.

Liverpool Crown Court previously heard Mannion killed 22-year-old Elinor after committing several assaults on her throughout their eight-month relationship. Just two days before murdering her, Mannion, who has previous convictions for violence, stabbed Elinor in the chest.

She had complained to police previously about being a victim of domestic abuse, but was too frightened to name Mannion as the perpetrator. Mannion called 999 just before 12.30pm on August 16 last year after stabbing Elinor at his apartment in the Great Northern Tower, just off Peter Street and Deansgate.

He initially told officers she had been accidentally ‘pierced’ by ‘something in her belongings’ when he had thrown her bags at her during an argument. During his murder trial, he said he had no idea how Elinor had been injured, insisting he found her lying in the hallway outside the flat before getting help. At one stage, he suggested she inflicted the stab wounds herself.