Prosecutors are seeking a retrial in the case of a woman who stabbed her abusive partner to death.

Julie Ann McIlwaine was convicted of murder in 2025 but had that conviction overturned on appeal earlier this month.

A defence barrister for McIlwaine said the court of appeal should consider substituting a verdict.

McIlwaine had admitted killing her partner but denied murder, claiming to have suffered a temporary loss of control as a victim of domestic abuse.

Lawyers representing her claimed an alternative verdict of manslaughter should be reached over the fatal stabbing of James Joseph Crossley.

The court will deal with the case again next month.

McIlwaine, who has been serving a minimum 12-year jail term, remains in custody in Hydebank Wood.

Crossley, 38, was stabbed up to 10 times in the chest and abdomen as he slept at McIlwaine's home in Dunmurry in March 2022.

The pair's relationship had been marred by emotional manipulation and coercive control.

At the time of his death Crossley was on bail for an alleged assault against McIlwaine and subject to a restraining order prohibiting any contact with her.

Despite a period of separation, they had re-established their relationship by the night of the killing.

Previous courts heard Crossley took medication and went to sleep following arguments where he issued an ultimatum for McIlwaine to choose between him and her family.

During police interviews the defendant stated it all got on top of her and she considered taking her own life.

She described taking a knife from the kitchen, returning to the bedroom and moving their young child, who was in the bed with Crossley, out of the way before repeatedly stabbing her sleeping partner.

The prosecution argued she made rational choices which demonstrated being in control of her actions.

In October 2024 a jury rejected McIlwaine's case and returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

However, earlier this month she won a legal bid to overturn her conviction for murder.

Defence lawyers successfully argued that jurors were misdirected and reached a verdict which went against the weight of expert evidence.

Central to the appeal was how the trial judge advised them on the legal test for the loss of control defence.

Instead of being asked to decide if someone of similar characteristics to McIlwaine "might" have reacted similarly, the question posed was "would" that person have acted in the same way.

The wording used was found to have wrongly imposed a higher threshold for establishing probability.

Further issues related to opinions from two consultant forensic psychiatrists on the psychological impact of prolonged abuse and the responses of victims in coercively controlling relationships.

Based on the identified misdirection, appeal judges ruled that the murder conviction was to be quashed.

In court today, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan disclosed: "There is an application for a retrial."

Prosecution counsel Richard Weir KC confirmed the request to re-run the case on the charge of murder.

But Eilis McDermott KC, representing McIlwaine, argued for an alternative outcome.

"Our submission is that the court should consider substituting a verdict (of manslaughter)," she said.

With a number of other legal issues also still to be determined, proceedings were adjourned until early in November.

Dame Siobhan said: "We will deal with these matters in three weeks' time."