Oxfordshire murderer dies in A40 crash, inquest hears

Thomas Purcell, who was convicted in 2006 of killing 16-year-old Megan McAlorum in Belfast, has died after being involved in a crash in the Burford area, between Oxford and Cheltenham on March 4.

The 36-year-old, of Furlong Close, Oxford, was driving a MG ZS vehicle on the A40 when he entered the opposite lane and hit a Citroën Berlingo van head-on.

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Several days later, on March 16 this year, he died at the John Radcliffe Hospital from a traumatic brain injury.

An inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court on Thursday (September 5) heard that Purcell, who was unemployed at the time of his death, may have been ‘fatigued or distracted’ at the time of the crash.

Thomas Purcell (Image: Police)

He suffered from ‘multiple severe injuries’ and the inquest heard that if he had survived, there was a possibility he would have been severely disabled.

A decision was made on March 14 to switch to ‘end of life’ care. Area coroner Nicholas Graham ruled his death as a ‘road traffic collision’.

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Purcell, who 16 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2006. He was released from prison in 2021.

Miss McAlorum was murdered by Purcell on Easter Sunday 2004 after he offered her a lift while she was walking home.

Her body was later found in a wooded area close to the Glenside Road on the outskirts of west Belfast, with injuries including 54 fractures to her skull.

Purcell had made a report to police after pretending to discover the semi-naked body when returning to the area.

Before that, he had returned to the area on his own to move Miss McAlorum's body into a ditch.

After pleading guilty to murder, Purcell told a psychologist: "I met the girl, we had sex, I got angry and killed her that's all."

Later he elaborated, claiming that after consensual sex 'she looked at me in a sneering way and said I was the first gypsy she had had sex with'.

Megan McAlorum (Image: Family handout/police)

Purcell also had previous convictions dating back to 2000 when he made a series of appearances at Oxford Youth Court.

His convictions included six robberies, common assault, shoplifting, motoring offences and harassment.

In July 2002, he was convicted of arson after causing £250,000 of damage to a thatched Balinese pavilion at Sir Richard Branson's country home, Mill End House in Kidlington.

Concluding the inquest, Mr Graham said: “I know there’s very little I can say…Tommy was very, very young and it’s such a cruel thing to be taken away so suddenly.”