An hour after his sister’s killer was found guilty of murder, Declan McNally emerged from Belfast Crown Court clutching a handwritten note. Trembling, he faced a row of television cameras and paid tribute to his “inspirational” sister, Natalie. Violence against women and girls is the “shame of our society”, he said, his voice breaking.
The Co Armagh man’s words were repeated in Westminster where Northern Secretary Hilary Benn described Northern Ireland as the “most dangerous” place to be a woman in the UK.
Femicide – the killing of women and girls because of their gender – has risen sharply in the North. Figures released this week by Women’s Aid NI show that 30 women have died violently since 2020.
In the majority of cases, the killers or suspected killers were known to their victims. Most of the women were mothers. In all but one case, the murderers or accused murderers are men. Husbands, ex-partners, brothers and a grandson were among those convicted or charged with the killings.
Patrycja Wryebek (20) was the youngest victim, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Dobbin (82) the eldest.
A long-awaited strategy on ending violence against women and girls is in its first year of roll-out by the Stormont government.
Sonya McMullan, regional services manager at Women’s Aid NI, welcomed the strategy but cautioned that models adopted in other countries “don’t necessarily fit here”.
McMullan pointed to riots in Ballymena last summer which she said showed how the North was still “rooted” in violence with “a legacy of conflict and the normalisation of violence on the streets”.
“It was in the name of violence against women and girls that the riots took place in Ballymena. But if we look at over half the people who were charged, they had a history of domestic abuse crimes,” she said.
Police respond to an incident of domestic abuse every 16 minutes in Northern Ireland, according to the charity.
Susan Lagdon from Ulster University says femicide rates have reached “epidemic” levels.
“We keep using 2020 as a baseline and that figure of 30 is absolutely shocking, but I think it’s really important here that we don’t remove the fact that many women have died before 2020,” said the psychology lecturer.
Lagdon was involved in carrying out a major research report on violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland last year.
Of more than 540 women surveyed, 98 per cent had experienced some form of violence.
“Even more concerning was the number of women who reported an experience before the age of 11, whether that be psychological or emotional forms of abuse or sexual abuse,” said Lagdon.
“What we found is that there was a high likelihood if you had these experiences in childhood you were much more likely to have them again in your adult life.”
Despite criticism of the funding allocated to the North’s gender-based violence strategy – a £5 million (€5.75 million) investment for this year compared to the €363 million strategy announced by the Government in the Republic in 2022 – Lagdon said some “positive change” is emerging.
“In terms of ripple effects of the Troubles and trust in our authorities, it’s taken a really long time for victims to feel comfortable in coming forward,” she said, welcoming a “more positive police presence” in nationalist working-class areas. The fact that it is happening is an indicator that change is possible.”
Elizabeth Dobbin (82)
Betty Dobbin
Elizabeth “Betty” Dobbin was “clearly a wonderful woman”, a judge said after sentencing her grandson for her killing. The pensioner’s body was discovered in her home in Larne, Co Antrim, on March 30th, 2020. She suffered a “ferocious attack” by Alan Gingles (32), a paranoid schizophrenic who lived with her. Following medical reports, he entered a guilty plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. He received an indeterminate sentence with a minimum tariff of five years.
Natasha Melendez (32)
Natasha Melendez
Originally from Venezuela, mother-of-four Natasha Melendez died in hospital on April 1st, 2020, 10 days after being attacked by her abusive partner in her Lisburn home. She was repeatedly beaten by John David Scott (36) until he killed her. He pleaded guilty to murder and three previous assaults. Her murder happened in a place where she should have felt safe, a judge said.
Emma Jane McParland (39)
Emma Jane McParland
Emma Jane McParland was in her Belfast flat when she was stabbed to death by her son. Jordan Kennedy (21) attacked her with a kitchen knife on April 22nd, 2020. He told police he believed his mother was “romantically involved” with one or more of his friends. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 14 years. A judge said it was “one of the most awful and difficult cases” he has had to consider.
Patrycja Wyrebek (20)
Patrycja Wyrebek. Photograph: Pacemaker
At a vigil at Belfast Castle organised by former classmates of Patrycja Wyrebek, they carried her picture and wore the red and white of the Polish flag in her honour. Wyrebek moved from Poland to Northern Ireland with her family when she was a child. She was beaten and strangled by her partner, Dawid Lukasz Mietus, in her Newry home on August 2nd, 2020. Mietus denied the killing for two years, telling police Wyrebek had died during a “consensual sex game gone wrong”. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Katie Simpson (21)
Katie Simpson
Katie Simpson loved horses and would, according to an aunt, have “gone to the top” in show jumping. She was one of six children from Tynan, a village near Armagh town.
[ How Jonathan Creswell tried to get away with murderOpens in new window ]
Simpson died in hospital on August 9th, 2020, six days after she was beaten, raped and strangled. Police initially treated her death as suicide, but subsequently charged Jonathan Creswell (36), the partner of another of her sisters, with her murder. Creswell was found dead on the second day of his trial in April 2024.
Susan Baird (60)
Susan Baird
A church administrator, Susan Baird was married to her husband for almost 40 years before he killed her. The mother-of-four suffered catastrophic head injuries after Gary Alexander Baird (65) attacked her with a hammer in their Belfast home on August 16th, 2020. Baird, a former BBC security guard, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, claiming voices in his head told him to do it.
Karen McClean (50)
Karen McClean. Photograph: Facebook
On her son’s birthday, Karen McClean posted on social media “let’s hope for a better year. Love you son.” Almost a year later, Ken Flanagan (26) stabbed his mother to death in her home in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim on March 19th, 2021. Flanagan then travelled to a nearby property and killed his girlfriend Stacey Knell before taking his own life. A mother of two, McClean left behind a daughter. She wrote of her “unconditional love” for Flanagan, who she said was battling drug addiction. She loved her two children “more than life”, she said.
Stacey Knell (30)
Stacey Knell. Photograph: Facebook
Stacey Knell, a mother of one, was stabbed to death by Flanagan in her home in Newtownabbey on March 19th, 2021. Flanagan (26) was found unconscious in Knell’s home and later died. An inquest into his death is due to take place later this year.
Ludmila Poletelova (61)
Ludmila Poletelova. Photograph: Pacemaker
Ludmila Poletelova, who worked in a Co Derry wine bar, was murdered in her home by her friend and former work colleague, Svetlana Svedova (47). The mother of two adult sons, Poletelova was born in Russia but spent most of her life in Latvia before moving to Northern Ireland in 2009. She died after being repeatedly attacked with a claw hammer in her home in Limavady on April 20th, 2021. Svedova pleaded guilty to murder. She received a 16-year prison sentence.
Katie Brankin (37)
Katie Brankin. Photograph: Facebook
Katie Brankin was stabbed five times by her partner Thomas Davidson (53) on a north coast glamping site where they were holidaying with their baby daughter. Brankin, a dog walker from Downpatrick, died outside their camper van at the Limavady site on the evening of July 12th, 2021. An inquest heard both Brankin and Davidson struggled with mental health issues. She had been discharged from a Co Antrim psychiatric hospital days before the murder. Davidson took his own life in Maghaberry prison six weeks later while on remand.
Katrina Rainey (53)
Katrina Rainey
A “gentle, sincere, beautiful girl that made time for everyone” was how Katrina Rainey’s mother described her daughter. The mother-of-six died after her husband poured a bucket of petrol over her in her car and set her alight when she was trapped in the vehicle. Thomas Johnston Rainey (61) confessed to the murder at their family farm in Knockloughrim, Co Derry on October 12th, 2021. A judge said it was the “ultimate act of domestic violence”. Rainey was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison.
Caoimhe Morgan (30)
Caoimhe Morgan. Photograph: Pacemaker
Mother-of-four Caoimhe Morgan was murdered in her north Belfast home by her ex-partner a week before Christmas 2021. Two of her children were in the house when Taylor McIlvenna (33) beat her to death. McIlvenna initially denied her murder but changed his plea to guilty shortly before his trial was due to begin. He will spend at least 17 years in prison. Tributes read in court spoke of the family’s devastation at the loss of “a much-loved” woman.
Alyson Nelson (64)
Alyson Nelson. Photograph: Pacemaker
Retired nurse Alyson Nelson had the “kindest heart”, her daughter told mourners at her funeral. White ribbons were tied to seafront railings close to Nelson’s home in Whitehead, Co Antrim for a silent vigil a week after her murder. The mother-of-four was stabbed seven times in her home by ex-partner William Finlay (66) on April 16th, 2022. They had met online. Finlay was the first person convicted of murder aggravated by domestic abuse in Northern Ireland. He will serve at least 20 years in prison.
Una Noone (77)
Una Noone
Una Noone’s dead body was found in her bedroom with rosary beads in her hands. She was strangled by her son, Barry Noone (47) in her home in Cookstown, Co Tyrone on June 17th, 2022. A letter found at the scene, signed by Noone, stated he was unable to take any more. He had returned from London, where he had lived for 20 years, to look after his mother after a hip operation two months earlier. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and received a six-year prison sentence.
Hollie Thompson (28)
Hollie Thomson
Hollie Thompson’s “natural kindness and compassion” made her an ideal person to work with children with learning difficulties, mourners at her funeral were told. The west Belfast mother-of-one was a classroom assistant at Harberton special school. Thompson was found dead at her home on September 11th, 2022. Suffocation and a fractured neck were identified as a possible cause of her death. Her partner, Chris Morelli (32), was charged with murder and took his own life while on bail six months later.
Natalie McNally (32)
Natalie McNally
Natalie McNally was an “inspirational person” to her family. A law graduate of Queen’s University Belfast who worked at transport company Translink, she was 15 weeks pregnant when she was murdered in her home in Lurgan on December 18th, 2022. Stephen McCullagh, her partner and the father of her unborn child, killed her in what was described as a “horrendous and savage” beating by prosecutors. McCullagh was convicted of her murder this week and received a life sentence.
Alesia Nazarova (37)
Alesia Nazarova. Photograph: Facebook
Alesia Nazarova was found dead at her home in Portadown on March 21st, 2023 after it was set on fire by her brother, Kornelijus Bracas (27), who was subsequently jailed for 24 years. Her 12-year-old-daughter was rescued from a bedroom. Originally from Lithuania, Nazarova sustained 60 per cent burns and was stabbed between 14 and 15 times in the neck. Her daughter watched paramedics treat her at the scene – “an image she will take to the grave”, a court heard.
Chloe Mitchell (21)
Chloe Mitchell
Chloe Mitchell loved to make memories and had the “most contagious laugh”. Her remains were discovered in a flat in her hometown of Ballymena on June 11th, 2023. Michell had not been seen for more than a week. Brandon John Rainey (29), of James Street in Ballymena, has been charged with her murder and attempting to prevent the burial of a body. He pleaded not guilty to those charges at a hearing in 2024. He remains in custody.
Kat Parton (34)
Kat Parton
Born in Fife, mother-of-one Kate Parton moved from Scotland to Northern Ireland when she was 13 years old. She was found dead in her home in east Belfast on May 9th, 2024. She had suffered severe head injuries. Her partner, Jamie Love (23), from Belfast, was charged with her murder, aggravated by domestic abuse. He remains in custody.
Patricia ‘Patsy’ Aust (81)
Patsy Aust. Photograph: PSNI/PA
Patsy Aust, a retired teacher and grandmother from Bangor, “especially had a soft spot for children with additional needs”, mourners at her funeral were told. Travel was her other love; Aust had taught in a secondary school in Malta and lived in Majorca. When she returned to Northern Ireland she became vice-principal of the Lindsay special school in Belfast. Her body was discovered in a house in the Hawthorne Court area of Bangor on June 2nd, 2024. Her brother, Jim Moore (85), of Clandeboye Place in Bangor, was charged with her murder.
Sophie Watson (57)
Sophie Watson’s body was found in a house in the Ashgrove Park area of Magherafelt, Co Derry, on August 18th, 2024. She sustained a number of stab wounds, police said. Andrzej Pajaczkowski (44), from Ashgrove Park in Magherafelt, has been charged with her murder and possession of a folding knife. He is due to stand trial later this year. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
[ Northern Ireland has become a dangerous place to live if you are a womanOpens in new window ]
Montserrat Elias (65)
Montserrat Elias was originally from Spain but had been living in Derry. Her body was found in the bedroom of a ground-floor flat in Harvey Street by firefighters who had attended reports of a fire at the city centre property on August 24th, 2024. In 2024 Ciaran Murray (28) of Gortfoyle Place in Derry was charged with her rape and murder as well as arson with intent to endanger life.
Rachel Simpson (43)
Rachel Simpson
Rachel Simpson, from east Belfast, was a “prankster” who was “full of beans, funny faces, and warm embraces”, her sister told those who attended her funeral. Her body was found in a garage on Belfast’s Castlereagh Road on September 13th, 2024. Her son Nathan Simpson (21), of Castlereagh Road, Belfast, was charged with her murder. Last December he was transferred to a high-security state psychiatric hospital in Scotland.
Karen Cummings (40)
Karen Cummings. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA
Karen Cummings’s “true vocation” was for nursing, mourners at her funeral were told. A paediatric nurse at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, the mother of two was found unconscious with a serious head injury inside her home in the Laurel Heights area of Banbridge on December 14th, 2024. Kevin McGuigan (43), and Glenn Robert King (33), with addresses given in court as HMP Maghaberry and HMP Magilligan [prisons], were originally charged with her murder, but the charges were downgraded to manslaughter. They are awaiting trial.
Mary Ward (22)
Mary Ward
Mary Ward was the “much loved mummy” of Levi Ward, her funeral notice read. Her body was discovered by police at her house in Belfast on October 1st, 2025. They called to her home about an unrelated matter and “observed a female crouched over against the upstairs front window” and entered the house. They believe she died six days earlier. Ward had reported to police a month earlier that she was the victim of a violent assault. Her former partner Ahmed Abdirahman (31), with an address at Kinlay House, Lord Edward Street, Dublin, has been charged with her murder.
Mary ‘Marie’ Green (71)
Marie Green. Photograph: FuneralTimes
“I do not know what else to say, except I love you every single day, Marie Green’s granddaughter said in a poem read at her funeral. Green worked as a receptionist at a transport company in Mallusk, Co Antrim, for almost 30 years. Her body was found at her Belfast home on June 3rd, 2025. Her son, Lewis Green (31), has been charged with her murder.
Sarah Montgomery (27)
Sarah Montgomery
A week before her death, Sarah Montgomery gave scans of her unborn baby son to her two young daughters. Montgomery grew up in Donaghadee, Co Down. A carer for her two autistic brothers who “adored her girls”, she was eight months pregnant when her body was found in her home on June 28th, 2025. Zak Hughes (28), from Ardglen Place in Belfast, has been charged with her murder and “child destruction”.
Vanessa Whyte (45)
Vanessa Whyte with her children Sara and James
A woman “full of kindness and warmth”, Vanessa Whyte was a vet originally from Co Clare who loved Gaelic games. She and her two children, James (14) and Sara (13) were shot dead in the family home outside Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh on July 23rd, 2025. The only suspect, Ian Rutledge (43), who was married to Whyte and the father of her children, died in hospital days later. Whyte and her children were buried together in her hometown of Barefield.
Ellie Flanagan (23)
Ellie Flanagan
Childcare worker Ellie Flanagan lived her life “with sheer joy”, a priest told mourners at her funeral. A member of Lakeland Players drama group in Co Fermanagh, she often played the role of the fairy godmother in pantomimes. Her body was found at a house in Enniskillen by police officers investigating a car crash. Flanagan’s stepfather, Martin McCarney (45), has been charged with her murder.
Amy Doherty (28)
Amy Doherty
Amy Doherty had a “magnetic personality” and “would draw people to her by her joyful smile,” a priest told mourners at her funeral. She was described as a “dedicated” care worker at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. The mother of two children was found badly injured in a house in the Summer Meadows Mews area of Derry on March 21st, and died later in hospital. A 30-year-old man Connor McNamee, a welder from Meehan’s Terrace in Co Derry, was charged on Friday with Doherty’s murder with the offence said to be aggravated by domestic abuse.