A United Kingdom man admitted to murdering his girlfriend and their preborn child because the baby was a girl… and he wanted a boy. He is awaiting sentencing for his girlfriend’s murder but faces no charges in the baby’s death.
Liam Taylor stabbed his Irish girlfriend Ailish Walsh at least 40 times at her London home on December 15, 2022. He stabbed her face, including her eye, about a dozen times. Some of the stabs were directed at the couple’s 22-week preborn child as well as Walsh’s genitals. He also hit her in the head with a 15kg (33-pound) dumbbell.
According to Sunday World, Taylor killed Walsh because he already had two daughters and wanted a boy. Walsh was also the mother of four born children, ages six to 10, from her previous marriage.
On the day of the murder, Taylor and Walsh had been messaging about going Christmas shopping after work, but at three o’clock, Walsh texted him to ask about another woman and whether or not he had been seeing her. Taylor denied involvement with the other woman, but Walsh did not believe him. She told him to leave their apartment and that she would pack her things. When she arrived at the apartment, she allegedly found Taylor using cocaine and she texted her father that she wanted him to move out.
Walsh’s father’s friend called her at 9:09 p.m. and said he heard a commotion, muffled noise, and Walsh screaming, “No!” She was heard saying, “You can’t do that to me, I won’t let you do that to me.” A neighbor also reported hearing screams. Walsh’s father, Larry Goulding, then went to the apartment with his friend.
Prosecutor Jane Osborne, KC, explained, “When they got to the flat, the main door downstairs was open as was the door to the flat. They went in looking for Ms Walsh but the layout of the flat was such that when the front door was open, the door to the bedroom was obscured. Larry Goulding went straight to the lounge of the flat but as Mr Crean closed the front door to the flat, he saw the legs of a female on the floor in the bedroom and shouted for Mr Goulding. As the two men entered the bedroom, they could see Ms Walsh on the floor.”
Taylor was due to be sentenced earlier this month and several of Walsh’s family members were present to hear his sentencing, however, Taylor failed to attend, saying that it would be “extremely distressing” and that he had been ill the night before. He didn’t feel “mentally able to attend the hearing,” he told his defense attorney, but said that the sentencing could proceed in his absence.
Judge Nigel Lickley, KC, however, said, “I’m not going to sentence him in his absence. He’s got to come here and he’s got to hear what we’ve got to say.” Sentencing is now scheduled for August 24.
Taylor has a history of violent behavior. In 2015, he was jailed for 12 months for head-butting his 16-year-old sister, and in 2020 he was convicted for hitting his mother repeatedly in the head and face with a metal pole.
This kind of violence is not uncommon. In the U.S., homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women.
