A nephew of Lennie Murphy, the leader of the loyalist "Shankill Butchers", was yesterday convicted of murdering his elderly neighbour two years ago. William Murphy (21) will be sentenced on Friday for the murder of Andy Spence (78) who choked on his blood.
Between January 4th and January 6th, 1997, Murphy broke into his neighbour's Battenburg Street home in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. As the pensioner lay on his bed, Murphy first fractured his nose, jaw, cheek and eight ribs before cutting at his legs with a blade or knife to torture him - in the mistaken belief he had money hidden in the house.