A MAN jailed for a minimum of 20 years for murdering his wife on a family boating trip in Fermanagh has lost his appeal against the length of sentence he received.
Originally from Strabane, Mr McKinney, pictured right, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his 35-year-old wife Lu Na McKinney in April 2017.
The body of Mrs McKinney, 35, was recovered from the water near a jetty at Devenish Island, where the couple were moored on a family cruise with their two young children.
Her husband has always denied the killing. Mr McKinney claimed she fell into the water while on deck to check mooring ropes, and that he tried to save her.
On Friday, McKinney’s lawyer advanced a number of arguments at the Court of Appeal in an attempt to have his sentence reduced.
The three Appeal Court judges dismissed all grounds of appeal and upheld the original sentence of 20 years.
“It is without any hesitation we find the tariff imposed by the trial judge not manifestly excessive,” said Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan after the Court of Appeal hearing.
“We hope the sentence imposed, which we uphold, provides some solace and satisfaction that the appellant was brought to justice and punished.”
In what was a circumstantial case against him, detectives believed that he had poured large water containers on the boat over himself to make it appear he had gone into the lough after his wife.
He was found guilty of murder in 2021 by a jury at Dungannon Crown Court who accepted the prosecution case that it was no boating accident.
Mr McKinney has advanced seven grounds of appeal in an attempt to have the verdict declared unsafe. He lost an appeal against his conviction in December 2023
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