Honeymoon killers wait on gallows decision

Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, were convicted of murdering former South Yorkshire police officer Ben Mullany and his wife Catherine on the Caribbean island of Antigua last July.

The 31-year-old newlyweds, from Pontardawe, South Wales, were both shot in the back of the head little over a fortnight after their marriage.

Their killers – known by the street names of Sample Dan and Demon – were due to learn their fate this week, after the prosecution previously stated it would not rule out sending them to the gallows. However, a delay in completing psychiatric reports meant the sentencing did not go ahead as planned.

It has now been rescheduled to take place at Antigua’s High Court next Monday – though questions remain about when one of the most expensive legal cases in the island’s legal history will finally draw to a close.

A spokesman for the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda said: “The sentence was not done this week, due to the fact that all the reports requested by the court were not available.

“The matter is now set for October 3, but it is still not clear if the sentence will be done on that date.”

University of West England student Mr Mullany and his wife, a doctor at Morriston and Singleton hospitals, had been honeymooning in Antigua in July 2008.

On what was supposed to be their final full day there, the couple were attacked in a dawn raid.

After blasting the pair in the head at point blank range, Howell and Martin stole Mr Mullany’s mobile phone, a cheap digital camera and a small quantity of cash.

Mrs Mullany died instantly, while her husband succumbed to his injuries a week later, after being flown home to Wales on a life-support machine.

A few days later, Howell and Martin then went on to murder local shopkeeper Woneta Anderson in almost identical circumstances.