Teenager, 19, guilty of murder after strangling his girlfriend

Teenager, 19, guilty of murder after strangling his girlfriend to death when she screamed ‘call the police, he’s choking me’ from her 14th floor flat window

• Courtney Boorne, 20, was strangled to death by her boyfriend Liam Cain, 19
•  The 19-year-old was today convicted of murder at Liverpool Crown Court

A teenager who strangled his 20-year-old girlfriend to death has today been found guilty of murder.

Courtney Boorne, 20, was found unresponsive at the flat she shared with her boyfriend Liam Cain, 19, on Quarry Green Heights in Kirkby, Merseyside.

Neighbours heard Ms Boorne screaming for help from the window of her 14th floor flat before police forced their way into the property at 5pm on December 23 2022.

Witnesses heard the support worker shout ‘call the police, he’s choking me’ before she was discovered unconcious with ‘visible marks to her neck’.  

Cain was today found guilty today of murdering his 20-year-old girlfriend following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. 

Courtney Boorne, 20, (pictured) was found unresponsive in the 14th floor flat she shared with her boyfriend Liam Cain, 19

A jury of four men and eight women took just one hour and nine minutes to reach a unanimous verdict.

Ms Boorne’s family were seen in tears and embracing each other in the public gallery after the verdict was returned.

Gordon Cole KC told the court during the prosecution’s opening that Ms Boorne had phoned her mother, Cheryl Boorne, at around 3:30pm on the day she died.

In this call, she had told her mother ‘if she didn’t hear from her within an hour to call the police, because something was going on’.

Around an hour later, a neighbour rang 999 reporting that she could see a woman in an apartment opposite ‘screaming and climbing onto the window ledge’.

Mr Cole added: ‘She said that the female appeared to be shouting at someone inside the flat. 

‘Courtney Boorne was heard to shout “please”. She was crying and she was shouting, ‘he has all the doors locked and he won’t let me out’.’

Another witness also called the police to ‘report a female shouting out of the window, screaming, shouting ‘call the police, he’s choking me’.

Mr Cole said: ‘She was described by as screaming, and the window was then closed. What they couldn’t see, of course, was what was going on inside the flat.  

‘The only two people inside the flat were Courtney Boorne and this defendant.’

Police rushed to attend the 14th-storey property ‘very quickly’ before forcing entry upon their arrival shortly before 5pm. 

Liam Cain, 19, (pictured) was today found guilty of murder following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court

They discovered Ms Boorne unconscious on a bed in the bedroom with ‘visible marks to her neck’.

She was rushed to Aintree University Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 7:02pm that evening.

 A post-mortem investigation later found that she had suffered a cardiac arrest ‘because of the asphyxia, the strangulation, the smothering of her by this defendant’.

Mr Cain was arrested after being found ‘crouched down, leaning on an armchair in the living room’ with ‘scratch marks’ on his head and face. 

The court heard the 19-year-old had sent his dad a text saying: ‘I love you the world, everyone.’

Mr Cain denied murder, maintaining that he acted in ‘reasonable self-defence’ after Ms Boorne allegedly attacked him with a plant pot, a brush and a kitchen knife. 

He claimed his girlfriend was angered by a series of phone calls he had received from an unknown number.

However records showed no such contact on the killer’s mobile, while the objects he claimed to have been assaulted with were found in positions which contradicted his account.

Cain, who showed no reaction to the verdict, is expected to be sentenced on Friday 21 July.

Following the verdict Detective Inspector Laura Lamping, of Merseyside Police, said: ‘This was a truly shocking and brutal murder of Courtney Boorne in her own home. 

‘As the court heard, her tragic death and the domestic violence she endured was abhorrent.

Courtney Boorne, 20, was heard screaming for help from the window of her 14th floor flat in Kirkby, Merseyside

‘Nobody can begin to understand the impact her sudden death has had on her family and friends, but I hope that this conviction will give Courtney’s family a sense of justice. 

‘This conviction demonstrates our dedication to bringing perpetrators of domestic violence to justice and supporting victims.

‘Merseyside Police continues to do everything it can to tackle all violence against women and girls and we will do everything in our power to support victims, target perpetrators and reduce violence by ensuring victims of domestic abuse feel believed and supported when they report offending to us. Domestic abuse is a complex issue and can take many forms.

‘It can be psychological, financial, sexual, emotional and physical and we want to raise awareness of the support that is available to anyone who is or has experienced domestic abuse or has been affected by it so that nobody else has to suffer or silence or go through what they have been through.

‘We work closely with local domestic support organisations, local authorities, safeguarding teams and charities to ensure that services and ongoing support are available including access to refuges.

‘We have a number of specialist departments within the police to investigate these crimes, but it’s important that we all work together to support survivors and collectively work to prevent these crimes occurring in the first place by raising awareness.’

Source: Read Full Article