Father-of-four Pat McCormick was killed in 2019
The body of a Comber man who was murdered in 2019 was disposed of in a wheelie bin and dumped in a lake, a court has heard.
Pat McCormick’s body was discovered in Ballygowan six weeks after he was last seen on CCTV in Comber town centre.
The court heard Mr McCormick’s body was secured in a bin with straps and weighed down with concrete blocks.
Five people appeared at Belfast Crown Court on charges arising from Mr McCormick’s death.
The court heard arguments ahead of four of them being sentenced later in June.
A minimum tariff will also need to be set for David Gill, who pleaded guilty in May to murdering Mr McCormick and has already been handed a life sentence.
Gill’s fiancée, Lesley Ann Dodds, 24, from Queen Vitoria Gardens in Belfast, is due to be sentenced after admitting Mr McCormick’s manslaughter.
Three other men each admitted a single charge of withholding information in relation to Mr McCormick’s killing.
They are Gill’s brother, William Gill, 43, from Terrace View in Waringstown; Andrew Leslie, 24, from Mourne Crescent in Moneyrea and Jonathon Richard Leslie Montgomerty, 24, from Castle Espie Road in Comber.
Facebook messages
On Monday, Belfast Crown Court heard Dodds had been in a brief relationship with Mr McCormick and her fiancé Gill had found out.
On the evening of 30 May 2019, Mr McCormick received messages from Dodds’ Facebook, saying she had left Gill and asking him to come to her flat in Comber.
He replied to one of the messages saying: “You told me you wanted nothing to do with me. I think you’re trying to set me up for a kicking, are you?”
The prosecution said it was unable to determine whether the messages had been sent by Gill or Dodds.
The court was told Mr McCormick called the police several times before arriving at Dodds’ house, saying he suspected Gill would be waiting outside and asking if officers could go with him and accompany him into the flat.
He said he would be safe if he got into her flat.
Police said they could do nothing without an incident being reported.
When Mr McCormick arrived at Dodds’ home she was not there but Gill was.
Mr McCormick was then assaulted and suffered multiple rib fractures
He was reported missing by his family in the following days and his remains were recovered from a lake six weeks later.
A post mortem was conducted which recorded 24 broken ribs caused by blunt force trauma, fracturing of the nasal bones and bruising to the back and chest.
Dodds and Gill were arrested in July 2019.
The court heard Gill had moderate learning difficulties and had a developmental age much lower than his biological age.
Dodds’ barrister spoke of “extreme childhood trauma” which she said had been carried into adulthood.
All five defendants were told they would be sentenced on 22 June.
