A Strabane man who was convicted of murdering his wife during a boating holiday in Fermanagh has lost an appeal against his conviction.
47 year old Stephen McKinney, who had been living in Convoy, Co Donegal was jailed for a minimum of 20 years for murdering 35 year old Lu Na McKinney in April 2017.
Stephen McKinney was seeking to overturn his conviction and challenge the sentence handed down to him.
He claimed his wife had fallen into the water at Devenish Island while checking mooring ropes and that he tried to save her.
In 2021 a jury found him guilty of his wife’s murder after accepting the prosecution case that it was not a boating accident.
BBC News NI reports that three appeal court judges considered seven grounds of appeal that the conviction was unsafe. All were rejected.
In dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice O’Hara said they had not been persuaded by any of the grounds advanced on behalf of Mr McKinney.
A further hearing is due to take place in the coming months to consider an appeal against the length of his sentence.
