Man gets life sentences for murder in oldest double jeopardy case

• Jacqui Montgomery, then 15, was sexually assaulted, stabbed and strangled in 1975.
• Dennis McGrory, now 75, was found not guilty of murder in 1976 trial.
• DNA evidence from teen’s body revealed a one-in-a-billion match to him.

In the longest double jeopardy case in England and Wales, a man was sentenced to life in prison for both the rape and murder of a young woman almost 50 years ago.

When Jacqui Montgomery, then 15, was sexually assaulted, stabbed, and strangled in Islington, north London, in 1975, Dennis McGrory, now 75, was only 28 years old.

He was found not guilty of murder in a 1976 trial based only on circumstantial evidence.

After samples from the teen’s body revealed a one-in-a-billion DNA match to him, McGrory was retried.

On June 2, 1975, Robert Montgomery, Jacqui’s father, discovered her body in their Offord Road home’s living room.

She had been strangled with the flex of an iron and had received fatal stab wounds as well as blunt force damage to her face.

McGrory was hauled back before the courts based on the DNA evidence against him in violation of the principle of double jeopardy, which states that no one can be tried for the same crime more than once.

He was jailed earlier on Friday at Huntingdon Crown Court after being convicted guilty of the rape and murder of the girl last month at the Old Bailey.

When the Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire-based defendant, McGrory, became unwell in March, the trial was adjourned.

During the trial, the court was told McGrory had been “wild with rage” when he killed the teenager as he tried to track down his ex-partner Josie Montgomery, who was the victim’s aunt.

McGrory had threatened to rape Jacqui in the past and, on that night, he “made good” on those words, jurors were told.

During the attack he also ripped out a page of the teenager’s diary with her aunt’s address on it.

Also Read

England requires negative test for arrivals from China

Several countries scrutinized Chinese travelers when China relaxed zero-Covid. UK, France, Spain,...