Teenager convicted of lover's murder

After the killing the teenager fled to Dublin

A teenager who stabbed his former gay lover 36 times has been convicted of his murder at Belfast Crown Court.

The teenager cannot be named because he was just 16 when he committed the crime.

He battered and then stabbed Alastair Holmes, 30, at his flat in south Belfast on New Year's Eve 2000.

After the killing, the teenager fled to Dublin but returned to Belfast the next day threatening to commit suicide, but instead gave himself up to police.

Throughout his two week trial, he maintained he could not remember the killing.

However, the jury took just over two hours to convict him on Wednesday.

The teenager will find out how long he will spend in prison when the judge receives pre-sentence reports.

Mr Holmes was originally from Bush, outside Dungannon, in County Tyrone.