A MURDERER who stabbed his victim 69 times had killed before, it was revealed after he was convicted.
Ian Birley, 43, had only been received on licence in December 2013 - just 18 months before he killed John Gogarty, 65, at his home at Marsh Street, Wombwell.
Birley and his accomplice Helen Nichols were both found guilty of the murder of the property developer, who was known as Irish Paddy.
Birley was jailed for life, with a whole life tariff - becoming one of only a handful of prisoners who have no chance of release.
Nichols was also jailed for life, with a minimum of 20 years before she is eligible for parole.
On finding the pair guilty, the jury were told that Birley had already served 17 years for the murder of Maurice Hoyle in Barnsley in 1995.
There were said to be similarities between the two killings - both were particularly vicious - Mr Gogarty had been stabbed 69 times in what the judge Mr Justice King described as a ‘frenzied attack’; while Mr Hoyle, who was also killed in his own home on Belgrave Road, Barnsley, had suffered more than 40 different injuries including fractures to his nose, cheekbones and eye sockets. He died when part of his false teeth became lodged in his throat.
Mr Hoyle, 69, who also lived alone, had invited the then-homeless Birley back to his house after spotting him huddled in a shop doorway as he walked home from a night out.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
