Zak Hughes has been given a minimum term of 20 years' imprisonment for the murder of Sarah Montgomery and the destruction of her unborn child. Lady Justice McBride imposed the sentence at the Crown Court in Belfast. Hughes must serve the full 20 years before the Parole Commissioners consider whether he can be released on licence. He was also given a concurrent determinate custodial sentence of 20 years for child destruction.

Ms Montgomery was 32 weeks pregnant when she was killed on 27 June 2025. She had already named her son, who was due on 20 August 2025. The baby died as a result of her death and the consequent loss of oxygen. She had two daughters with Hughes, who had weekend contact with the girls. At the time of the murder, Hughes was living with his fiancée, who was also pregnant.

On 26 June 2025, Ms Montgomery learned from Hughes's mother that his fiancée was pregnant and sent him a text message. He replied that they needed to talk but not by phone. He went to her flat the following day. She recorded around 15 minutes of their conversation, which ended with her screaming and pleading as he attacked her. The assault began at about 13:48 and Hughes left the flat at 14:07, carrying a Smyths toy shop bag which he placed in the boot of his car before driving to collect another of his daughters from school. One of his daughters had been in the car outside while he was in the flat.

Ms Montgomery was found on 27 June by her grandfather after relatives could not contact her. She was lying on the floor with the shaft of a brush under her legs. Police noted blood and bloodstains throughout the flat and evidence of some attempt to clean the scene. A post-mortem examination found death resulted from head injury caused by blunt force trauma. She had sustained at least 59 applications of blunt force trauma, with multiple injuries to the head, torso, arms and back. Her unborn son was assessed as a well-grown, normally developed viable male baby who died because of his mother's death.

Hughes admitted responsibility in police interview, saying he had lost control. He later accepted that he instigated the incident and that Ms Montgomery had shown no aggression or made no threats. He subsequently expressed remorse. The court heard that he bought a change of clothes at a shopping centre with his children in the car, discarded Ms Montgomery's phone and house keys at a B&Q, and left the Smyths bag and his bloodstained clothing at Titanic Boulevard. He also sent messages to her phone, including a photograph of himself with their daughters, and lied to her family when they asked where she was.

The court determined that the gratuitous violence and multiple injuries placed culpability in the exceptionally high category, giving a normal starting point of 20 years. Lady Justice McBride identified significant aggravating factors: the domestic context, with the attack carried out in Ms Montgomery's home by a man she should have trusted while she was heavily pregnant and unable to defend herself, and with her daughter nearby; the separate offence of child destruction, described as the most serious aggravating factor; and the attempts to conceal the killing. The court said the concealment did not materially harm the police investigation. It accepted that the attack was spontaneous and not premeditated, which it treated as the most significant mitigation, and concluded that the appropriate starting point, excluding the guilty plea, was 25 years.

Hughes pleaded guilty at first arraignment after making admissions in interview. The court said the early plea meant there was no delay and the family were not left in limbo, and that it provided vindication and a sense of justice for Ms Montgomery's family and friends from the outset. The defence sought a one-third reduction, but the court held that such a level is restricted to exceptional cases such as mercy killings and reduced the term by five years instead, producing the 20-year tariff.

In passing sentence, Lady Justice McBride told Hughes that he was guilty of the brutal and completely unjustified murder of a defenceless, heavily pregnant mother. The court said he relentlessly beat her after she confronted him over his lies, continuing to strike her at least 59 times as she screamed for mercy, killing her and her unborn baby. The judge described the killing as another femicide in a long line of femicides committed in the jurisdiction and said his conduct had rightly invoked the abhorrence of right-thinking people.