Paula Farrell sentenced to life for Drogheda murder

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Paula Farrell was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment for the murder of Wayne McQuillan at her home in Drogheda on New Year’s Day 2014. Mr Justice Paul McDermott imposed the sentence. The proceedings were reported on 30 March 2020.

Farrell had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. A jury found her guilty of murder. It was the third trial for the crime and the second time she had been convicted.

The couple had been drinking together at Farrell’s home on New Year’s Eve when a row broke out. Farrell took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Mr McQuillan four times. He collapsed outside the house and was later pronounced dead in hospital.

During the trial, Farrell claimed that Mr McQuillan had sexually assaulted her and began to strangle her when she refused to have sex with him. The prosecution called her account an outrageous lie against a man who could not give an alternative account. Farrell made the allegation 16 months after the murder, having previously told gardaí that nothing sexual had happened between them that night.