Thug guilty of brutal sex murder of woman who reported him to police

A controlling thug has been found guilty of the brutal murder of a vulnerable mother - as it emerged police are under investigation over their response to her previous reports of his domestic violence.

Paul Irwin, 50, faces a life prison sentence for killing Tiffany Render, 34, who bled to death inside his flat after he launched a ferocious sexual assault upon her on March 22 while high on cocaine.

At the time, Irwin was subject to a suspended jail term for repeatedly hitting on-off partner Ms Render with a rolling pin, slapping and strangling her last July.

Weeks before his murderous attack, unemployed Irwin had twice been arrested, bailed and banned from contacting Ms Render over other alleged abuse.

Cumbria Police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over her death. The watchdog recommended the force to carry out an internal investigation into how it handled the further complaints, which is set to be held after an independent review looks at the handling of the domestic violence by all public agencies.

In late February, Ms Render told police Irwin had kicked her up the backside as she lay outside his property in the dead of night, curled up against a bag of her own clothes. Irwin — after sinking 18 beers — had earlier hit her head while yanking open a door as he demanded she leave the property in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

Irwin later warned if she didn't come back he would burn photographs of her children. Ms Render told police: 'I have said to him 'if you burn those photographs then I will kill you'. He has then stated 'come up here and I will kill you. I'm telling you now that I'll f****** kill you'.'

Ms Render described how his controlling conduct had intensified since his release from custody on remand. Incidents of aggression were increasing in their frequency and she feared his behaviour could worsen and result in regular physical abuse.

On March 4, Ms Render reported Irwin had repeatedly threatened her by phone while drunk.

Police bodycam footage captured her on a phone call with Irwin, and reporting his vows to 'batter me' and 'knock me out'. On speakerphone, slurring Irwin also threatened to 'belt' a constable.

'She told the police that she was absolutely terrified to leave the property and she was considering home security measures to protect her from a potential attack,' prosecutor Iain Simkin told Carlisle Crown Court.

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Days later, she obtained safe accommodation but — despite Irwin's bail conditions — continued to spend time at his flat, which Ms Render, still 'in thrall' to Irwin, was persuaded to visit on March 22, hours before her death.

Just before midnight, Irwin called the ambulance service and said he believed Ms Render was dead. Paramedics attended and noted she was unresponsive, surrounded by blood-soaked bedding. She was pronounced dead by a doctor.

Irwin had knocked back five cans of Stella lager earlier that day, and hoovered up 10 lines of cocaine as they engaged in sexual activity.

'You were coked up, weren't you?' suggested Mr Simkin as Irwin, who denied murder, gave evidence during his trial. Irwin replied: 'Yeah.'

The court heard three rooms of his flat were left blood-stained after he attacked Ms Render with punches 'again and again and again'.

A pathologist concluded 5ft 1in Ms Render, who weighed under nine stones, was subjected to repeated blunt force trauma by unemployed Irwin, 5ft 10in tall and 17 stones, and suffered a terrible sexual injury.

The pathologist suggested Ms Render could have collapsed within 20 minutes and died within an hour, so savage was the attack and so rapid the blood loss.

Mr Simkin told jurors Irwin exercised 'full control' over her life, including access to money, contact with her own children and what she could or could not eat.

'The prosecution's case is that she was an extremely vulnerable woman who was trapped inside an aggressive violent and controlling relationship,' Mr Simkin had said.

'Tiffany Render had become conditioned to obedience, was in thrall to the defendant and, irrespective of the risks to her own well-being, nevertheless visited him on March 22.'

Irwin told the court he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia which was medicated and under control in March.

He insisted Miss Render's death was accidental. But during his trial, which took place over the last 10 days, he admitted manslaughter and sexual assault.

Yesterday, a jury of eight women and four men found Irwin unanimously guilty of murder after deliberating for three hours and 45 minutes.

Irwin, wearing a dark suit, showed no emotion in the court dock as the verdict was delivered.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Foster heard a psychiatric report had been provided to the court by Irwin's legal team and announced she would sentence him next month – but he must sign the sex offenders' register with immediate effect..

The judge remarked that it had been a 'distressing' case and told jurors they would be discharged from serving on future crown court juries for life.

In the wake of Miss Render's death, Cumbria police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in March - which asked Cumbria Police to conduct an internal review.

This was due to the fact that she had previously contacted Cumbria police on multiple occasions to report being a victim of domestic abuse.

An IOPC spokesman said: 'Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Tiffany Render, as well as all those affected by her death.

'After assessing the available information, we determined an investigation was required to establish whether there were any missed opportunities to prevent Ms Render's death. In light of evidence of some positive action taken by police to safeguard her, we considered it was appropriate for the force to carry out this investigation.'

Det Supt Matt Scott, head of public protection at Cumbria Constabulary, said of Irwin: 'Clearly as we've all seen in court he's shown no emotion, he's shown no remorse in terms of what he's done. He's clearly a cowardly and horrendous human being who deserves to go behind bars.'

He added: 'We are committed to ensuring victims of domestic abuse receive the support and safeguarding they need and we work closely with partners to help victims.

'Following the tragic death of Tiffany Render, and because Cumbria Constabulary had previous involvement with her in the months and weeks prior to her death, a referral was made to the IOPC and this was then referred back to Cumbria Constabulary to investigate.

'The investigation has been suspended by our professional standards department until a domestic abuse related death review has been independently completed. This review will look at all agencies' involvement in this case and determine if there is any learning which could be implemented across all agencies to improve the response to domestic abuse.'