The raging MMA-loving thug who used his girlfriend as a punchbag before murdering her

Even as he was questioned by police after knifing Elinor O'Brien, a stabbing which would eventually kill her, Kevin Mannion's attitude towards a woman he claimed to love was clear. Mannion, a 45-year-old cocaine fuelled thug, constantly referred to Elinor as 'the girl', or 'that girl'.

Within 30 minutes of stabbing her, knowing exactly what he'd done, Mannion had called his solicitor to make sure he was ready for the inevitable court case. And as Mannion concocted increasingly desperate lies in a selfish bid to save his own skin, it was obvious that Elinor, a young woman more than two decades his junior, was terrified of him.

She did everything she could to avoid Mannion's vengeful wrath, knowing just what he was capable of. When questioned by friends and family about injuries she'd suffered at Mannion's hand, Elinor invented a violent ex-boyfriend to try and explain away the black eyes and bruises.

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She used a false name at hospital, and was petrified at the thought of being seen with police and labelled a 'grass'. She also made up stories to cover for Mannion's violent rages.

Even as she lay in an ambulance, fighting for her life, Elinor refused to name the man who had inflicted what would prove to be a fatal injury. A bubbly young woman, aged just 22 when her life was cruelly cut short, friends told how Elinor 'lit up the room' and had an 'infectious smile'.

But during her eight month relationship with Mannion, she lived in terror. Elinor had been unlucky in love before. She had previously been with a man had also instilled fear in her. Like with Mannion, she was reluctant to report his