A BRITISH FATHER-OF-FIVE has been convicted of murdering ‘gentle giant’ Irish plasterer John O’Neill after a row at a Costa del Sol bar.

A Spanish jury found Darren O’Flaherty, 42, guilty by a unanimous 9-0 verdict after a four-day trial at a court in Malaga.

He was also convicted of attempting to murder bar manager James Walsh and owning the unlicensed gun used in the 28 July 2010 crime at Coco’s Bar in the holiday resort of Benalmadena.

The jurors cleared O’Flaherty, from Liverpool, of the attempted murder of a second bar worker.

O’Flaherty, who was on the run from British police when he shot 40-year-old dad-of-two O’Neill dead following an assault on a friend of the Irishman’s, is now facing a lengthy jail sentence.

State prosecutors called on judge Julio Ruiz to jail O’Flaherty for 17 years for O’Neill’s murder, 12 years for the attempted murder and a year and a half for the weapons conviction.

The sentence is expected to be delivered in writing within the next fortnight.

Translator

The Brit learnt his fate through a translator and looked briefly at relatives in the courtroom who included his mother and father before hanging his head. His lawyer Cristina Carrillo said afterwards she would appeal.

O’Neill, from Coolock, north Dublin, who was on his first foreign holiday with his family including partner Maxine Sutcliffe, son Jake, then three, and daughter Jasmine, then nine months, had attended a sunshine wedding the day before his life was ended.

He collapsed and died at a bus stop 50 yards from the bar after suffering a fatal wound to his stomach. O’Flaherty was held on a European arrest warrant while celebrating his birthday at a Chinese restaurant in north Wales in August 2013.

He was extradited to Spain in February 2015 to await trial after serving prison time in the UK for his role in a knifepoint hold-up.

Jurors were told on the first day of the trial that he was living under a false name when he killed O’Neill, but the charge of using fake documentation to rent his Costa del Sol flat was withdrawn before they retired to consider their verdict yesterday evening.

As well as a lengthy prison sentence, O’Flaherty also faces having to compensate the common-law wife and two children of his victim with up to €250,000. His defence lawyers had argued O’Neill’s death was a simple homicide, punishable by 10 to 15 years’ prison in Spain, and not a murder under Spanish law.

But jurors decided the Brit had given his victim no chance of defending himself in the “surprise attack”, making his crime murder in Spain.

Revolver

O’Flaherty returned to the bar with a .38 revolver and targeted drinkers after being kicked out for an unprovoked attack on a friend of the slain Irishman who had been using a toilet he was trying to get into.

Disturbing CCTV footage played to the jury on day two of the trial showed him pointing a gun at a father and his cerebral palsy-sufferer son after shooting O’Neill dead.

O´Flaherty declined to take the witness stand after opening speeches by his lawyers and the state prosecutor, telling the court through his translator that he wouldn’t answer any questions.

His defence lawyers said he was drunk and on drugs the night of the murder and suffered from mental health problems that reduced his criminal responsibility – but jurors said there was “no evidence” for their claims and rejected their argument.

“Wrong place”

O’ Neill’s aunt Peig Dowdall described her nephew after the killing as “a gorgeous, big soft guy, always with a smile on his face.”

She added: “He was just in the wrong place.”

Speaking on the anniversary of her partner’s murder, Maxine said: “The last year has been devastating. There aren’t words to describe what we went through.

“It was like you were living a nightmare and you didn’t know when it was going to end and how.

“But the worst thing is, we’re still going through it, every second of every day.”

Recalling the moment she realised her ‘best friend’ had slipped away, she added: “I looked and I saw him lying on the pavement.

“I was running over to get to him but the police pushed me back. I told them I just needed to hold his hand but they said no.”