Triple murderer Jordan Monaghan has lost a challenge against his convictions for murdering his two children and his partner. The 32-year-old was given three life sentences with a 40-year minimum term in December 2021, later increased to 48 years.
Monaghan murdered his three-week-old daughter Ruby and 21-month-old son Logan in 2013, and his new partner Evie Adams, 23, six years later. Three Court of Appeal judges in London dismissed his appeal earlier.
Monaghan's barrister, Benjamin Myers KC, argued that the murders of the two children and two attempted murders of a third child should have been tried separately from the charge of murdering Miss Adams. During his 10-week trial at Preston Crown Court, jurors heard Monaghan smothered Ruby on New Year's Day 2013 as she slept in her Moses basket at the family home in Blackburn. In August 2013, he took Logan to a local swimming pool in Blackburn and smothered the child in a changing-room cubicle. In October 2019, Monaghan poisoned Miss Adams with illegally-purchased prescription drugs, later claiming her death was suicide.
Mr Myers told the Court of Appeal: 'There were two distinct strains of fact in this case... they should not have been tried together in the first place.' He said it was 'unlikely, if not cognitively improbable' jurors were able to put aside the evidence surrounding the murder of Miss Adams when considering verdicts on the murder counts against the children.
However, Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Murray, dismissed the bid. 'We have no reason to doubt that the trial proceeded fairly,' he said, finding no fault in the original judge's decision. The judges also rejected the challenge over the jury's use of the other evidence when considering their verdict on Miss Adams' death.
