A killer who strangled the mother of his baby daughter texted his new lover within an hour of the brutal murder.
Mark Mahoney, 31, was jailed for life after he punched and throttled partner Vikki Hull, 29, to death on a sofa at her father’s house in Speke, Liverpool.
The couple had met through a dating website and had ‘a whirlwind relationship’ with their first date just a year before she was killed, on April 8 this year.
On the night of the murder, the couple had gone to the pub with Ms Hull’s father, Jack, returning home shortly after midnight.
While Mr Hull was sleeping upstairs, the pair had a blazing row and by 2.21am Mahoney, who had a record of attacking women, had strangled his partner.
However, minutes after the horrific crime, he was WhatsApping a woman from Birmingham, who he had met online, Liverpool crown court heard.
The killer, who had been sharing ‘intimate’ messages with his new lover, wrote at 3.56am: ‘I wanna come an be with u babe, can i please?’
She did not respond until an hour later, writing: ‘Sos was asleep wots happened??? Thought u was ok again xxxxxxxxxxx’
He replied a minute later: ‘No, do u still want us to give it a go? Do u still want me to come down there?’
The pair had never met in person, but Mahoney was said to be planning a new future with the woman.
Vikki Hull posted this picture on Facebook of her and her baby just hours before she died
He also confessed his crime to friend Robbie Graham, mere seconds after he had committed the murder.
At 2.21am, he wrote: ‘Can I come to u please, I f***** up really bad rob’.
Shortly after, he added: ‘Ur gonna hate me n want nothing to do with me rob.
‘U will turn me in tho, I have done something really bad, I know you will turn me in rob, I’m gonna kill myself it’s the best way.’
That evening, after swapping text messages, his mother told him to hand himself in.
But Mahoney was arrested by officers, who had to use pepper spray, as he entered a friend’s home.
He claimed to his step-father that the reason for the attack had been ‘drink’ and he later told police, ‘basically it was just an accident, I didn’t intend for any of this.’
Mahoney said he had been arguing with Ms Hull, when she grabbed his jaw.
Vikki Hull, 29, was found at her house in the Speke area of Liverpool in the early hours of the morning on April 8
Mark Mahoney (right), 31, was jailed for life after he punched and throttled partner Vikki Hull (left), 29, to death on a sofa at her father’s house in Speke, Liverpool
He then pushed her off, but she came at him again and he grabbed her around the throat to scare her, but she stopped breathing. He said he had never been violent towards her before.
The court heard that a post-mortem examination found that Vikki was three times over the drink driving limit, which would have affected her ability to defend herself.
She had been strangled manually and her clothing was tightened around her neck acting as a ligature.
Ms Hull’s heartbroken mother, Maureen Lawler, said her only daughter ‘had waited all her life to be a mum’.
In an impact statement read to the court, she said: ‘I cannot believe her life with Rosie was such a short one, that fact alone breaks my heart. She has lost bot her mum and dad and faces growing up with either in her life.
‘My life will never the same again, surrounded by clouds of distress and grief.’
