Mark Mahoneywho strangled mother to death jailed for life

A violent boyfriend, who murdered a new mother by strangling her to death on the sofa, has been jailed for life.  

The infant, now aged seven months old, has been left effectively orphaned after her father, Mark Mahoney, 31, from Liverpool, was today jailed for life for murder.

He and Vikki Hull had met through a dating website and had ‘a whirlwind relationship’ with their first date just a year before her death in April this year.

Vikki Hull posted this picture on Facebook of her and her baby just hours before she died

Vikki Hull

Mark Mahoney

Mark Mahoney (right) and Vikki Hull (left) had met through a dating website and had ‘a whirlwind relationship’ with their first date just a year before her death in April this year

After a family barbecue and trip to the pub, Mahoney strangled Vikki and left the house sending texts to a friend saying, ‘I’ve done something really bad’ and threatening to kill himself.

On April 8 after a family barbecue the couple and her dad went to the Orient pub in Speke before heading home shortly before midnight. Mr Hull fell asleep upstairs leaving the couple in the rear living room.

Tragically by 2.21am Mahoney had strangled Vikki and left the house sending texts to a friend including saying, ‘I’ve done something really bad’ and threatening to kill himself.

The court heard that Vikki’s father awoke at 3am and found his daughter lying fully clothed on the couch and panicked when he found she was not breathing and had marks on her neck. He dialled 999 and she was rushed to hospital but was declared dead at 4.14 am.

Meanwhile, Mahoney had arrived at his friend’s home in Wavertree and had sent texts to a woman he had met on social media saying, ‘I wanna come and be with u babe, can I please?’, said Mr McLachlan.

That evening after swopping text messages his mum told him to hand himself in but later that evening police, who had to use pepper spray, arrested him entering his friend’s home. He told his step-dad the reason had been ‘drink’ and he later told police, ‘basically it was just an accident, I didn’t intend for any of this.’

He said that Vikki and he began arguing and she grabbed his jaw. After he pushed her off she came at him again and he grabbed her around the throat to scare her and she stopped breathing. He said he had never been violent towards her before.

Mr McLachlan said that a post mortem examination found that Vikki was three times over the drink driving limit which would have affected her ability to defend herself. She had been strangled manually and her clothing was tightened around her neck acting as a ligature.

Vikki Hull, 29, was found at her house in the Speke area of Liverpool in the early hours of the morning on April 9

Vikki Hull, 29, was found at her house in the Speke area of Liverpool in the early hours of the morning on April 9

Richard Pratt, QC, said that the young parents had had a night of happiness and relaxation and then ‘something dreadful happened.’

An argument had become physical and words were exchange and Mahoney ‘over-reacted in a way he did not foresee and for which in truth he cannot now properly understand.’

Mahoney was ‘a devoted dad’ and has now accepted what he did which was ‘wholly disproportionate,’ said Mr Pratt.

Her heartbroken mother, Maureen Lawler, told Liverpool Crown Court in an impact statement how her only daughter ‘had waited all her life to be a mum and to be gifted with Rosie was the best thing ever to happen to her.

‘I cannot believe her life with Rosie was such a short one, that fact alone breaks my heart. She has lost bot her mum and dad and faces growing up with either in her life.’

‘My life will never the same again, surrounded by clouds of distress and grief.’

Mrs Lawler, who said both sets of grandparents are caring for the baby, added, ‘No one is loved as much as my granddaughter who faces life without her mum who would have been the best mum ever.’

Jailing 31-year-old Mahoney, for life with a minimum term of 16 years one month less the time he has served on remand,

Judge Alan Conrad, QC, said that Vikki, ‘was greatly loved by those who knew her and had everything to live for.

‘Vikki will never see her daughter grow up and Rosie Leigh will never know her mother.’

He told bearded Mahoney, who showed no emotion, that it must have been a painful death and ‘having inflicted fatal injuries you left her to die on the sofa to be discovered by her father while you made your getaway.’

Mr McLachlan had told the court how Mahoney, who had been due to face trial this week until changing his plea on Monday, moved in with Vikki, a care assistant, and her dad, Jack Hull at his home in Speke, last November and Rosie was born on February 22.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk