A murderer was dragged screaming incoherently to t

A murderer was dragged screaming incoherently to the
cells amidst calls for him to be hanged after he was sentenced
to life imprisonment by an Old Bailey judge.

Jubilant friends and relatives of his victim cheered and
applauded after Gary McDonald was convicted of stabbing 38-year-old
Joe Kelly to death outside a Wembley pub.

As 22-year-old McDonald was taken away screaming abuse and
shaking his fists at the public gallery, the dead man’s triumphant
supporters shouted ‘the bastard should be hung’ and ‘Thank you
jury.

‘
The Recorder of London, Judge Lawrence Verney, had told
McDonald: ‘You have been convicted of murder on very clear evidence.

There is only one sentence which the court can pass and that is a
sentence of life imprisonment.

‘
McDonald had stabbed Mr Kelly three times outside the Swan
pub in Harrow Road, Wembley, at closing time.

He had returned to the pub armed with a knife after being
thrown out during an earlier fight inside the pub over dead man’s
fiancee, Kim Roach.

Trouble first erupted inside the pub when McDonald’s
drinking partner Mickey Hickey, said to be obsessed by Miss Roach,
had grabbed her round the neck, pushing her on the ground.

Mr Kelly had rushed to her defence and a fight started,
first with Mr Hickey, which McDonald joined in.

McDonald and Mr Hickey were both thrown out of the pub,
but lay in wait for their foe, after McDonald went home and armed
himself with a knife.

A second fight broke out at closing time, when McDonald,
acting alone, plunged the knife into Mr Kelly’s chest three times,
leaving him bleeding to death on the ground.

As brave barman Joe Flaherty fought to get the knife from
him, McDonald stabbed him in the leg.

Despite this, he managed to wrestle the killer to the floor
and stamped on his hand until he dropped the weapon.

McDonald fled as distraught Miss Roach tried to revive her
fiance.

McDonald of Chestnut Court, Harrow, was also found guilty
of wounding with intent and was sentenced to six years for that
offence.

McDonald had denied all the charges claiming he went
home to bed after the initial fracas.

ENDS