Johnny Miller to learn next month how long he will be jailed for Charlotte Murray murder

A CO Tyrone man - who is yet to do "the decent honourable thing" and give up the body of his murdered fiancee Charlotte Murray - will next month learn how much of his life sentence he must serve.

Judge Stephen Fowler QC told Johnny Miller, convicted of Charlotte's murder last year, that he wished to reflect on his case.

The Dungannon Crown Court judge, sitting in Belfast, heard submissions from prosecution and defence counsel on the minimum tariff Miller must serve.

Prosecution QC Richard Weir claimed his tariff should be at the higher starting point of up to 16 years, given aggravating factors. These included Miller's continued silence over the whereabouts of Ms Murray's remains.

Mr Weir said that Ms Murray was a vulnerable person.

However, defence QC Orlando Pownall argued that the case fell within the normal starting point of 12 years.

He rejected the contention Miller had preyed on Ms Murray as a vulnerable person, as suggested by the Crown.

The 49-year-old from Redford Park, Dungannon was unanimously convicted last October by a jury of being the "cold calculating murderer" who killed his 34-year-old ex-fiancée.

His trial heard that sometime between October 31 and November 2, 2012, he murdered Ms Murray in a rage when sent explicit images of herself in the arms of another man.

In answer to these claims, Miller maintained that she simply left their Roxborough Heights, in The Moy, Co Tyrone, to take up a job in Belfast, leaving him her car, which he sold to pay off her debts to him, and her beloved dog Bella to look after.

In the aftermath of his conviction Ms Murray's identical twin sister Denise, appealed on behalf of their mother Mary and family for "Mr Miller to do the decent thing, the honourable thing and let us know where Charlotte's body is, so we can bring her home".

To date Mr Miller has kept that secret to himself, maintaining she still is alive, while "assiduous, thorough, wide-ranging, comprehensive inquiry...gargantuan efforts" by police has established there was not a shred of evidence to suggest this is the case.

Despite renewed searches by police since his conviction, including the draining of a quarry pit at Benburb, Ms Murray's whereabouts remain unknown.

During his trial, the jury heard of alleged sightings following her disappearence, in Moy itself, at a local hospital, and even in England. However, by their verdict the jury discounted this and Miller's denials of using her mobile phone to send text messages to "lay a false trail" in an attempt to show her alive.