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William
McANAMEE
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: He
said that he had no reason for killing either Ms Horner or Mr
Dysart, adding: "There's nothing I can do to control what I am
doing"
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: August-September 1998
Date of arrest: September 12, 1998
Date of birth: 1969
Victims profile: Tracey Horner
(his girlfriend) / John Dysart, 42
Method of murder: Strangulation
/ Bludgeoning to death with a frying
pan
Location: Scotland/England, United
Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison in July 1999. Sentenced to
a second life sentence in October 2001
Second life sentence for killer
BBC News
October 25, 2001
A man who killed two people in four days has been
given a second life sentence at the High Court in Glasgow.
William McNamee, 32, is already serving a life
sentence in an English state mental hospital for killing a man in his
London flat.
On Thursday he was convicted of strangling deaf mute
girl Tracy Horner in the flat they shared in Gallowgate, Glasgow,
between 29 July and 1 August 1998.
McNamee, from Londonderry, had originally been
charged with murder but the Crown accepted his plea of guilty to the
lesser charge of culpable homicide.
Sentencing him to second life term, Lord Wheatley
ordered that he should serve a minimum of 10 years before being
considered for parole.
The judge told McNamee: "The only apparent motive for
committing this offence was to gratify your need to kill a defenceless
and particularly vulnerable young woman."
He said the parole board would have to go to
extraordinary lengths to satisfy themselves that there was no prospect
of him re-offending before giving any consideration to early release.
During the trial the court was told that McNamee was
arrested while acting suspiciously outside a furniture shop in London.
After being taken into custody he told police that he
had been thinking about killing two members of staff in the shop with a
hammer.
He also confessed to killing Londoner John Dysart in
his flat at Vauxhall Bridge Road and strangling his girlfriend and
fellow Big Issue seller, Tracy Horner, four days earlier in Glasgow.
The court heard how McNamee told police: "I am glad
you caught me. I don't know what I would have done."
He also said that he had no reason for killing either
Ms Horner or Mr Dysart, adding: "There's nothing I can do to control
what I am doing."
Before passing sentence Lord Wheatley heard that
McNamee had a record for serious crimes of violence.
In 1990 he was jailed for five years at Leeds Crown
Court for assault, arson, and a drug offence.
Four years later he was jailed again for five years
in Londonderry for rape.
In 1998 McNamee moved to Scotland from Ireland and
met Ms Horner while he waited for an interview in the Glasgow Big Issue
office.
One week later he strangled her in a flat they both
shared in the city's Gallowgate area.
The prosecution described McNamee as "an extremely
dangerous individual and that danger undoubtedly arises from his
personality disorder which is untreatable".
His defence counsel, Edward Targowski QC, said his
client had suffered violent psychological problems as a result of
violent abuse at the hands of his father when he was young.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Wheatley ordered
that McNamee should serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered
for parole.
Prior to the trail he had been in Broadmoor Hospital
in England after being jailed for life for the killing of Mr Dysart.
The English court ordered that he be detained for at
least six years and nine months before being considered for parole.
Serial killer gets life
July 5, 1999
A serial killer has been branded an
"exceptionally dangerous man" by a judge who sentenced him to
life imprisonment.
William McAnamee, 30, from the Creggan
area of Londonderry, was convicted at the Old Bailey in London on a
manslaughter charge but received a life sentence because of the "two
strikes and you're out" law.
It is understood that the Procurator
Fiscal in Scotland is pursuing McAnamee for the killing of his teenaged
girlfriend in August last year. The defendant is facing charges that he
strangled Tracey Horner in their flat in Glasgow.
McAnamee, who had a previous conviction
for rape in his home town, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds
of diminished responsibility.
'Something wrong with me'
The Old Bailey heard the defendant had
killed John Dysart, 42, by bludgeoning him to death with a frying pan.
He had met Mr Dysart after he fled from
Scotland and on the night of the killing, 2 September, he had stayed
with a friend, Brian Everett. Immediately after killing Mr Dysart, he
had attacked Mr Everett with a knife.
He was arrested 10 days after the killing
when a police officer recognised him. A wallet found on his person
belonged to the dead man.
When he was arrested McAnamee said he had
been planning to kill two other people. "There is something
seriously wrong with me, I nearly killed a girl in Derry," he said.
"I could have carried on killing easily."
The defendant pleaded in court that he
suffered from a personality disorder. During police interviews, McAnamee
referred to seeing a wolf when he looked in the mirror.
Jailing McAnamee for life, Judge Neil
Denison referred to the defendant's personality disorder and branded him
"an exceptionally dangerous man".
