Ex-soldier who murdered girlfriend with hair straighteners in Spain learns fate
And Keith Byrne has been told the two years he has already spent in prison on remand and as a convicted felon following his conviction in May will qualify as time served.
The sentencing decision, revealed overnight in a 121-page written ruling by the judge who presided over Byrne's trial at a court in the east coast Spanish city of Tarragona, means he could be back out on the streets in around a decade.
Public prosecutors had demanded a 20 year jail sentence for the 34-year-old Irishman after a jury convicted him of strangling Kirsty to death with a hair straightener power cord at their four-star hotel in the popular Costa Daurada resort of Salou on July 2 2023 after she told him she was leaving him.
And a private prosecutor for Kirsty's family said after the guilty verdict she was still seeking the 30-year sentence she argued for before and during the trial.
Sentencing Judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez ruled the fact Bryne and his 36-year-old partner had been in a stable eight-month relationship made the horror crime more serious. Kirsty Ward. Hotel Magnolia in Salou, Spain. (Image: Irish Mirror)
But she said the convicted killer's consumption of alcohol and drugs before he murdered Kirsty diminished his cognitive faculties and was a prevailing mitigating factor.
The judge said in her lengthy ruling, rejecting arguments private prosecutor Estela Cortes put forward to justify a 30-year prison term: 'I understand that there is a prevailing basis for imposing the lower penalty and, therefore, imposing a sentence of between seven years and six months and 15 years.
'Within that range, the recognition of the aggravating circumstance and the motivation for the act…lead to the imposition of the maximum penalty, which is 15 years in prison.'
Jurors found Keith Bryne guilty of murdering his south Dublin girlfriend on May 7 after three days of deliberations.
The Irishman had claimed during his Tarragona trial the mum-of-one committed suicide at the four-star Magnolia Hotel.
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He described himself as a 'respectful and intelligent' father-of-three who would never commit an act of domestic violence - and demonised Kirsty as someone who could be 'four people in one day' especially after binging on alcohol and cocaine he claimed made their romance 'toxic'.
Kirsty's mum Jackie Ward described Byrne as someone she 'didn't like' and 'didn't trust' on day one of the trial on April 23 and said she had found out after her daughter's death she had planned to leave him during their 'make or break' holiday.
She was asked as she gave evidence whether she thought her daughter, whose son Evan was 14 when she died, could have committed suicide but replied angrily: 'She did everything for her son. She would never ever leave him. She would never do that to him.'
Public prosecutor Javier Goimil, a domestic violence specialist, rubbished Byrne's court claim Kirsty took her own life during his closing speech to the jury on the final day of the murder trial.
He claimed the former soldier, who had been living in Duleek, Co Meath, decided: 'You're mine or you're nobody's' and strangled his girlfriend to death because she wanted out of their stormy relationship.
He said the forensic evidence pointed to Kirsty being strangled from behind between 8pm and 10pm on July 2 2023 after 'incapacitating herself' with alcohol and cocaine
He told the court: 'Byrne has adapted his version of events of what happened in that timeframe 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 here is a violent and painful death, a strangulation from behind where someone is pulling from the front to the back. 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 decision.
'His mindset at that moment was: 'Or 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.'
He also said the amount of alcohol Kirsty had drunk before being killed would have impacted significantly on her ability to defend herself.
Byrne's defence lawyer Jordi Cabre had been seeking his client's acquittal before the jury verdict and afterwards asked the judge to hand down the "minimum sentence" under Spanish law.
The killer was led handcuffed from the court after learning he was a convicted criminal following nearly two years on remand in prison following his arrest, with the judge deferring sentencing as is normal in Spain.
It emerged following Byrne's Spanish arrest that he was wanted in England by Royal Military Police for going AWOL after he left for Ireland in 2017.
Reports in Ireland last March said Spanish prosecutors intended to interview at least two of his former partners about assisting the case by giving background information about him.
One of these women previously claimed in an interview with the Irish Independent that Byrne had tried to strangle her in an incident at a property in Co Meath a number of years ago.
Jackie Ward described her daughter after her death as a 'fantastic friend' to her parents and 'an absolutely adored daughter.'
She told the congregation at the Church of John the Evangelist in Ballinteer, Dublin in July 2023 that she had been an amazing mum to Evan, saying: 'The two of them were an amazingly strong and tight team and I hope to continue the great work she has done.
'To me she was a fantastic friend and an absolutely adored daughter to myself and John. She was a caring sister, a cherished granddaughter and much loved niece and cousin. A loyal and true friend.'
Kirsty's family said in a statement after the May 7 jury verdict: 'Our family wish to thank our private prosecutor Estela Cortes and her team for guiding, supporting and representing Kirsty, her son and our family at this very difficult and painful time; Javier Goimil the public prosecutor for his commitment and passion; the Spanish investigation teams and police for their expertise, empathy and understanding; and the jury for seeing and believing in what was the truth about our beautiful Kirsty.
'Our family now requests our privacy be respected, while we grieve and come to terms with all that has happened during the past two years.'
The slain Irishwoman's loved ones have yet to react to the sentencing decision. Well-placed legal sources said after Byrne's trial finished they expected him to be jailed for around 20 years.
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