Charlotte Murray: Johnny Miller guilty of murdering former fiancee

A Tyrone man has been found guilty of the "cold, calculating murder" of his ex-fiancee seven years ago.

The body of Charlotte Murray, 34, from Omagh, has never been found.

However, in a unanimous decision, a jury found Johnny Miller, from Redford Park in Dungannon, killed her between 31 October and 2 November 2012.

Afterwards, Charlotte' s identical twin sister Denise read a statement outside court appealing for Miller to let the family know where her body is.

"We still don't have Charlotte back," she said.

"We are now appealing to Mr Miller to do the decent thing, the honourable thing and let us know where Charlotte is so we can bring her home."

Charlotte Murray was 34 when she was reported missing

The family's call was echoed by the police.

The 48-year-old chef had been engaged to Ms Murray and was the last person to see her alive.

Miller shook his head as the judge told him he was sentencing him to life in prison.

A further hearing will take place next month to set a minimum term.

Members of Ms Murray's family, including her mother and twin sister, who had been in court throughout the trial, cried and hugged each other.

Miller had insisted throughout the four-week trial at Dungannon Crown Court that he did not kill Ms Murray and he did not believe she was dead.

'Murderous rage'

However, the prosecution said the strands of circumstantial evidence pointed to Ms Murray being dead and that Miller had murdered her.

Johnny Miller has been told he will serve a life sentence

The lawyer alleged Miller had done so in a "murderous rage" because he had been "lied to, betrayed and cuckolded" and on the morning of her disappearance she had emailed him explicit images of her with his friend.

He had searched the internet for pawn shops to sell their engagement ring, however this was shown to have been several minutes before he had received the explicit images.

Miller's evidence she had left to start a new life in Belfast had been described as "riddled with inconsistencies, inaccuracies and downright lies".

His attempts to "lay a false trail" that Ms Murray was alive had been exposed, according to the prosecution, by mobile telephone and computer data.

The prosecution said this had revealed Mr Miller had used Ms Murray's phone to send text messages during the two weeks after her disappearance and he had posted a message on her Facebook account saying she had to leave.

The data showed Ms Murray's phone had connected to mobile phone cell sites covering the area of Roxborough Heights in Moy - where the couple lived - and had never travelled to Belfast after the time she went missing.