Ex-soldier convicted of murdering mum-of-one Kirsty Ward ‘violent to three former partners'
Keith Byrne choked previous partner, cops told
A twisted ex-soldier convicted of the murder of mum-of-one Kirsty Ward had been violent to three former partners, strangling one of the women to the point where she blacked out – Spanish prosecutors learned in advance of his trial.
In his evidence, 34-year-old Keith Byrne, from Duleek, sickeningly claimed the 36-year-old mum-of-one took her own life at their four-star Magnolia Hotel in the popular Costa Daurada resort of Salou.
The truth was he strangled Kirsty to death with a hair-straightener power cord on July 2, 2023 after she told him she was leaving him.
The liar also described himself to jurors as a 'respectful and intelligent' father-of-three who would never commit an act of domestic violence.
However, the Sunday World understands Spanish prosecutors already knew that this was a lie and were armed with evidence from a former girlfriend of Byrne's that he was in fact a serial woman abuser.
This woman had previously told of her ordeal at Byrne's hands in an interview with the Sunday World following Kirsty's murder.
In the interview, the woman said she was speaking out as she didn't want Byrne to be tried as someone who had been violent as a one-off 'as if it is the first time he has hurt someone'.
Murder victim Kirsty Ward
The woman, who is aged in her 30s, said she had been in a relationship with Byrne for several years and that she 'went into shock' and had been unable to work after hearing news of Kirsty's murder.
'I felt it could have been me and I am very grateful to the help of my family and friends to get me out of the situation after he attacked me,' she said.
Recalling her ordeal at the hands of the murderer, the woman said that after a night out, he threw her onto the floor of a bedroom they were in and then 'grabbed me by the throat put his hands on my throat and he held it until I blacked out'.
She said the incident came to an end when other people walked into the room and the woman ended her relationship with him in the following days.
'I thought I was going to die. It all felt very surreal after that, I knew I had to leave him,' she explained.
Following Kirsty's murder, the woman said she had informed gardaí in Ashbourne of the attack on her as well as incidents of violence involving Byrne and two other former partners.
Gardaí then made this information available to Interpol who informed the Spanish authorities and the Spanish prosecutors probing Kirsty's murder.
The Sunday World has also learned that disgraced former soldier Byrne has been abusing alcohol for over a decade.
We have established that he was convicted of drink-driving at the Bullring in Drogheda in January of 2013 and disqualified from driving for two years.
Byrne was in trouble with gardaí on just one other occasion in this country but on that occasion he was arrested alongside a future Kinahan Cartel soldier who would go on to become a top target for gardaí.
The same month he and Caolan Smyth were arrested after they were caught trying to siphon diesel from a car to put in Smyth's petrol car.
Both were given the Probation Act on that occasion but Smyth is currently serving a 20-year jail term for the attempted murder of Hutch associate James 'Mago' Gately.
Former soldier Keith Byrne was found guilty of murdering mum-of-one Kirsty Ward
News in 90 seconds - 12th May 2025
In the wake of these brushes with the law, sources say Byrne spent a lot of time in the UK where he was a soldier with the British Army based with the Irish Guards and Parachute Regimen.
Byrne went absent without leave in 2017 and had been sought by the British Army's Royal Military Police ever since.
During Byrne's trial in Tarragona, Spanish prosecutor Javier Goimil rubbished Byrne's claims that Kirsty had taken her own life.
He said the truth was when Kirsty has told him she was going to leave him he had decided: 'You're mine or you're nobody's' and strangled her to death.
He said the 34-year-old had concocting the suicide story after being told he could spend most of the next three decades behind bars.
He told the court: 'Byrne has adapted his version of events of what happened in that time-frame nearly two years on in accordance with the evidence he's learnt there is against him.
'He's saying Kirsty tied a cable round her neck and attached it to the door knob but in the state she was in it would have been impossible for her to do that and there's nothing showing there was a knot in the cable.
'What's occurred is a violent and painful death, a strangulation from behind... This was not a suicide.'
He added: 'She didn't leave a note for her son or her siblings or her mum and what's more she had bought a plane ticket back to Dublin for July 4.
'Kirsty's relationship with Byrne was very toxic, very intense and very emotional. She decided to end it during the week they stayed at the hotel in Salou and her partner couldn't accept that.
'His mindset at that moment was: 'You're mine or you're nobody's. You, woman, are no-one to say you're going to detach yourself from me the man and have your own independent life. That was why he killed her the way he did.'
On Thursday, the jury returned a guilty verdict in the case. The trial judge said he was retiring to consider his sentence. Byrne is not expected to find out for nearly a month how long he will have to serve.
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