Alex Trelinski
A TARRAGONA judge has jailed Irishman Keith Byrne for 15 years for killing his girlfriend Kirsty Ward at a Salou hotel in July 2023.
Mother-of-two Kirsty, 36, was strangled with a hair straightener cord just hours after she dumped the former British soldier.
They had gone for a holiday at the four-star Magnolia Hotel to see if they could patch up their relationship.
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Keith Byrne, 34, speaking at his trial this year claimed that she took her own life, and that her use of alcohol and cocaine had made their relationship ‘toxic’.
The jury however were swayed by the prosecution argument that he used his physical superiority to kill her.
Kirsty’s teenage son was awarded €150,000 in compensation, her mother €80,000 and each of her siblings €20,000.
Byrne was given a restraining order preventing him from contacting Ms Ward’s family or going within a kilometre of them for 25 years.
The two years he had spent in prison on remand following his conviction in May has been classified as part of the sentence.
Prosecutors had wanted Byrne jailed for 20 years but the judge said his consumption of alcohol and drugs was a mitigating factor in the sentencing because they had diminished his cognitive ability.
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