Man guilty of 'vulnerable' woman's murder

A man who subjected his on-off partner to a ferocious sexual attack after bingeing on lager and cocaine has been convicted of her murder.

Tiffany Render, 34, bled to death having suffered an internal injury when she was assaulted by Paul Irwin at his flat in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in March.

A jury at Carlisle Crown Court heard Miss Render died from a massive haemorrhage and that three rooms of 50-year-old Irwin's home were left bloodstained after he attacked her with punches "again and again and again".

He will be sentenced next month.

A pathologist concluded Miss Render, who was 5ft 1in (1.55m) tall and weighed less than nine stone (57kg), was subjected to repeated blunt-force trauma.

Having drunk cans of Stella Artois lager earlier in the day and taken 10 lines of cocaine during sex with Miss Render, Irwin - 5ft 10in (1.8m) and 17 stone (108kg) - meted out violence while "off his head", jurors were told.

So savage was the attack and so rapid her blood loss, Miss Render could have collapsed within 20 minutes and died within an hour, the pathologist said.

The court heard Irwin was handed a suspended prison sentence late last year for repeatedly hitting Miss Render with a wooden rolling pin, and slapping and strangling her.

She had since alleged other assaults and, the prosecution told the court, was an extremely vulnerable woman "trapped inside an aggressive, violent and controlling relationship".

Prosecutor Iain Simkin KC told jurors: "Tiffany Render had become conditioned to obedience, was in thrall to the defendant and, irrespective of the risks to her own well-being, nevertheless visited him on March 22."

Irwin had twice been arrested and bailed by police with conditions not to contact Miss Render in the weeks before her murder.

He called the ambulance service, claiming he had woken to find Miss Render dead.

In evidence, Irwin, of George Street, described suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, which caused him to hear voices and hallucinate. But he insisted his condition was fully medicated and under control in March.

Irwin claimed Miss Render's death was accidental, but during the trial he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and also admitted sexual assault.

Judge Mrs Justice Foster heard a psychiatric report had been provided to the court by Irwin's legal team but announced she would not pass sentence immediately.

She described it as a "distressing" case and told jurors they would be discharged from serving on future crown court trials for life.

Irwin will be sentenced in the week of 16 December and was remanded in custody.