The unrepentant killer of a retired librarian could be facing at least 30 years in jail, a court heard yesterday.
Farm labourer Trevor Hamilton (23), who battered the woman on her way home from church and then buried her naked body at a riverbank near his home, had shown no remorse for what he did, it was claimed.
At the time he murdered Attracta Harron (65) he had been out on parole after raping a woman in his home village of Sion Mills, Co Tyrone.
Hamilton was convicted in April and is expected to be jailed on Friday.
The trial judge, Mr Justice McLaughlin, has already warned him that the sentence could be the longest ever imposed by the courts in Northern Ireland and that he might never be freed again.
Crown lawyer Terence Mooney told a pre-sentence hearing yesterday that the minimum sentence should be considerably higher than guidelines set down by the legislation, and there were no mitigating features in the case.
"There is clearly no remorse. The pattern of behaviour clearly suggests a sexual motive for the abduction of Ms Harron. It is clear that Mr Hamilton, despite assistance being offered to him, has learned nothing from previous offending."
Ms Harron, a mother of five, from Strabane, Co Tyrone, was on her way home from Mass across the Border in Lifford, Co Donegal, in December 2003 when she vanished - driven off in Hamilton's car. But it was not until four months later that her body was discovered in a makeshift grave close to the home of Hamilton's parents after search dogs were brought in from south Yorkshire police.
Police believe she was attacked with either an axe or a hatchet.
- (PA)