Tyrone man Gary McGurk killed New Yorker ex-girlfriend

[Minder]

A man from County Tyrone has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his former girlfriend in New York.
Gary McGurk, 24, faces between 29 and 37 years in prison after admitting killing Michelle Lee, a forensic investigator for the New York Police Department.
Ms Lee was discovered bound and stabbed to death in her apartment in April 2009.
They first met while studying forensics at college in New York.
Queens District Attorney Richard A Brown said it was "a brutal and senseless crime that abruptly cut short the life of a talented young woman with a bright and promising future.
"His guilty plea not only ensures that he will serve a lengthy prison sentence for his actions, but it also spares the victim's family the emotional trauma of having to listen to testimony at trial about the gruesome circumstances surrounding Ms Lee's death."
Mr Brown said Ms Lee would have been proud of her colleagues in the crime laboratory who worked to apprehend her killer.
McGurk, of 48-56 58th Place in Woodside, Queens, pleaded guilty at Queens Supreme Court to first-degree manslaughter and three counts of tampering with physical evidence.
He admitted hitting her in the head and stabbing her in the neck with a knife.
He also admitted tampering with the crime scene by altering the condition and position of her body, tampering with her blood and sending a message to his own phone from her Blackberry before taking it with him as he left the apartment.
Ms Lee's body was found in her third-floor apartment by her roommate.

[Minder]

He admitted hitting her in the head and stabbing her in the neck with a knife.
He also admitted tampering with the crime scene by altering the condition and position of her body, tampering with her blood and sending a message to his own phone from her Blackberry before taking it with him as he left the apartment.

Why manslaughter and not murder?

Thought that myself.

[Zapatista]

He admitted hitting her in the head and stabbing her in the neck with a knife.
He also admitted tampering with the crime scene by altering the condition and position of her body, tampering with her blood and sending a message to his own phone from her Blackberry before taking it with him as he left the apartment.

Why manslaughter and not murder?

It's was probably on condition of the Guilty Plea.

[NAG1]

Yeah in American system the lenght of the sentence that would be handed down would be lenghty anyway so was more than likely a plea bargain to get him to confess to save it going to a full trial.

Such a waste obviously thought he was the clever boy!

[omagh_gael]

I wonder where abouts in tyrone his was from?

[Tony Baloney]

A bit foolish taking on CSI New York. I've seen on tv what they can do. 

[longrunsthefox]

Details of it are brutal... psychotic.

[mick999]

His Father had an interesting past also:

And what a background it was: In 1981, Gary McGurk's father Aidan, then with an address in Monaghan, was jailed for nine years for possession of explosive substances in a car near the border. He and an accomplice, James McGinley, had fallen asleep on the southern side of the border while waiting to ambush British troops. The hilltop vantage point would have given them a clear view of the road on the other side of the border. The arrest was one of the first that involved cooperation between gardai and the RUC. A local resident saw the men sleeping and contacted the RUC, who in turn contacted the gardai. The men were tried in Dublin. Gardai in the case gave evidence that members of the provisional IRA had fired intimidating shots into the ceilings of potential witnesses. The case became famous as the "sleeping bombers case". At the time of the conviction Aidan McGurk was just a year older than Gary is today.

In 1983, McGurk was again convicted of IRA membership and began serving a five-year concurrent sentence. A Co Monaghan housewife testified that he had intimidated her at gunpoint.

After his release, McGurk, by then an unemployed labourer, was again arrested. In 1991, gardai had chased him after an IRA funeral and discovered bags with balaclavas and berets. He was sentenced to a further five years. This conviction was overturned on appeal, however. The judge in the appeal case ruled that the evidence linking McGurk to IRA membership consisted mostly of statements about the type of clothing he was wearing and was too tenuous to be relied upon.

The McGurk family moved to New York shortly after the successful appeal, leaving the bad blood in Northern Ireland behind them. They settled in Woodside, Queens -- at that point probably the most Irish neighbourhood in the whole city. Gary's uncle ran a bar in the area. Gary, just 10 years old at the time of the move, developed into a fine athlete and was for several seasons one of the star soccer players at John Jay College.

[Down South]

He looks like he is from Tyrone.

[Zapatista]

His Father had an interesting past also:

An interesting story but not relevant to the thread.

[Down South]

His Father had an interesting past also:

An interesting story but not relevant to the thread.

Does it not show that criminality runs in the family? (at the very least)

[Overthebar!]

how is it not relevant to the thread? of course it is...
interesting read

[Hardy]

My Snooze For Irish Freedom. 

I'd forgotten about that.

[Geoff Tipps]

Details of it are brutal... psychotic.

I think part of the plea bargain was to save her family having to hear the deatils of her death.
I remember some from the time and they were very disturbing.

[Zapatista]

how is it not relevant to the thread? of course it is...
interesting read

I suppose it's an interesting story about this guys father. Other than that it's not relevant.

Maybe his mother entered the Rose of Tralee, that would be interesting too but not relevant.