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Man Accused Of Killing Girlfriends Faces Trial

Man Accused Of Killing Girlfriends Faces Trial

A former stonemason is to stand trial accused of murdering two former girlfriends.

Leslie Ross, 67, who denies the charges, was remanded in custody after appearing at Newry Magistrates' Court.

Mother-of-four Michelle Bickerstaff, 47, was found dead in 2012, five years after the body of 50-year-old Margaret Weise was discovered.

Both women had been in a relationship with Ross, from Dromore in County Down, at the time of their deaths.

The court heard there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a case concerning the alleged murder of a third former partner, Elizabeth McKee, who died in 2002.

As the judge made his determination, relatives of the three women who were packed into the public gallery of the court began to weep.

The judgement followed a three-day preliminary inquiry at Armagh Magistrates' Court last month during which some family members had given evidence.

Addressing them directly, Judge Peter King said he had been "impressed and moved" by the content of their evidence.

Minutes into the hearing Ross, who is partially deaf, had to be moved from the dock into the press benches because he could not hear the judge.

"I can hear you but, I can't make out what you are saying," he told the judge.

Ross, who has spent the past 18 months in Maghaberry high security prison in Co Antrim, appeared relaxed throughout the hearing as he sat in the dock flanked by two prison guards.

Outside the court his solicitor Conleth Downey said: "My client has steadfastly denied the counts of murdering three women."

His next court appearance will be at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast on April 24.