Tragic, brutal killing

FLASHBACK: O’Hara in 1998

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YESTERDAY was the second time Paul O’Hara has been jailed for life.

He was locked up in 1998 after admitting the murder of Janine Waterworth in an alleyway in High Crompton — but released 14 years later.

In 1998 Manchester Crown Court heard how O’Hara had a personality disorder and was affected by drink, drugs and sleep deprivation at the time of Janine’s death.

Then living in Tennyson Street, Derker, O’Hara had attacked Janine as she walked to a bus stop on her way to work at 6.30am. Neighbours heard agonising screams and Janine was found in a pool of blood in the alley 400 yards from her parents’ home.

She had been stabbed a dozen times: O’Hara’s attack had stopped when the blade of his knife snapped off in her body.

Before his arrest a few hours later, he told relatives: “I think I have killed Janine. I can’t believe I’ve done it — I just lost it.”

The pair had lived in a flat and with one of his relatives before she went back to her parents. They continued to see each other, but split for good before the killing.

Jailing him, Judge Simon Fawcus told O’Hara: “This was a tragic and brutal killing — an absolute waste of a young life. The motive seems to be the oldest in the world — jealousy.”

O’Hara had a violent past with convictions for vehicle-related crime, burglary, robbery and assault.