Death penalty possible for couple’s murderers

Newlyweds Ben and Catherine Mullany, from Rhos, near Pontardawe, were both shot in the head on the island of Antigua in 2008.

Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 22, were convicted of their murders, and the killing of a local shopkeeper, last July.

Following the completion of their two-month trial, prosecutors said they would reserve judgment on seeking the death penalty.

Howell looked to have dodged the hangman’s noose as it was thought he was 17 at the time of the murders, which would have resulted in him getting a more lenient sentence. But Antigua’s High Court heard yesterday that his date of birth was not September 1990, as the trial previously heard, but September 1989.

Despite the revelation, both Martin and Howell’s legal team urged Judge Richard Floyd to treat their clients leniently, insisting they were capable of reform.

Mr Floyd reiterated his previous comments he would need to consider “matters fully” and did not give a date as to when sentencing would finally proceed.

University of the West of England student Mr Mullany, who left the Yorkshire force to train as a physiotherapist, and his doctor wife went on honeymoon to Antigua two days after their marriage in July 2008.

Martin and Howell burst into the couple’s chalet at Cocos hotel at 5am, shot them, and stole an inexpensive mobile phone, a cheap digital camera and cash.

Less than a fortnight later they killed a shopkeeper for a handful of phone cards.