A man has pleaded guilty to both murder and child destruction after killing a heavily pregnant woman in Northern Ireland.
Sarah Montgomery, 27, and her unborn child were murdered in 2025. She was the mother of two young girls and had already chosen the name Liam Arthur for their new little brother.
Her murderer, Zak Hughes, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the judge, Madam Justice McBride.
Utter tragedy
A vigil was held for Sarah last year, where she was described as a “lovely” person, who “lived for her two girls who were so excited to have a baby brother join their little family in August”.
The officiator at Sarah’s funeral service said: “Sarah was so looking forward to being a mummy also to her baby, Liam Arthur. It is an utter tragedy that none of us has had, or ever will have, the chance to know him, to see him as a little boy or grown into a young man”.
She added: “Sarah and Liam Arthur and his sisters should have a future ahead of them, but that future has been brutally and unjustly snatched away from them, and from their family and friends.”
Two lives
Head of Communications at The Christian Institute, Angus Saul, branded the attack “horrific”, and noted that the sentence highlights a glaring inconsistency in the law.
“This case is a tragedy, but we can give thanks that the killer has finally been brought to justice.
“Significantly, it has been recognised that he destroyed not one, but two lives. Sadly, this is not reflected elsewhere in our justice system because ‘child destruction’ is not a crime if it comes in the form of abortion – even up to birth.
“Every unborn child deserves protection. Let us pray for the Montgomery family as they grieve, and pray too that society would cherish every human life.”
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