Killer who beat his ex-girlfriend to death has his face slashed open 'from temple to chin' in prison

An Irish killer who beat his ex-girlfriend to death while their six-year-old daughter slept nearby has been attacked in prison.

Daniel Murtagh, 36, had his face slashed open ‘from temple to chin’ at Midlands Prison on Tuesday and could be scarred for life, reports claim.

Murtagh was jailed for life after he beat 30-year-old Nadine Lott to death with his bare hands at her home in Arklow, County Wicklow, in December 2019.

She was beaten so badly that her face was barely recognisable, and the ambulance crew who arrived at the scene were reportedly left deeply shocked by her injuries.

Daniel Murtagh, 36, had his face slashed open 'from temple to chin' at Midlands Prison on Tuesday and could be scarred for life, reports claim

Murtagh was jailed for life after he beat 30-year-old Nadine Lott to death with his bare hands at her home in 2019

Daniel Murtagh, 36, had his face slashed open ‘from temple to chin’ at Midlands Prison on Tuesday and could be scarred for life, reports claim. Murtagh was jailed for life after he beat 30-year-old Nadine Lott to death with his bare hands at her home in 2019

Pictured: Killer Daniel Murtagh is handcuffed and being taken to court in 2019. After being attacked in prison, he was rushed to Portlaoise Hospital

Pictured: Killer Daniel Murtagh is handcuffed and being taken to court in 2019. After being attacked in prison, he was rushed to Portlaoise Hospital

Ms Lott died three days later from her ‘extreme and grotesque’ injuries at St Vincent’s Hospital. The trial heard she suffered ‘traumatic head, neck and chest injuries’.

Now Murtagh himself has been left injured after being attacked in prison, and had to be rushed to Portlaoise Hospital after losing a ‘serious’ amount of blood.

A source told Irish newspaper the Sunday World that the murderer has a tendency to get on the wrong side of other inmates, and this ‘finally came back on him.’

‘The incident kicked off on the B1 landing at approximately 5pm [on Tuesday],’ a source at the prison told the newspaper. ‘Murtagh is an inmate who rubs people up the wrong [way] and it looks like it finally came back on him.

‘The lad who attacked him opened him up from his temple all the way down to his chin. Murtagh was losing a lot of blood by the time staff got to him and he had to be rushed to Portlaoise Hospital.

‘Despite the best efforts of staff, he lost a serious amount of blood and he’s still over there under guard tonight,’ the source added. ‘He’ll carry the scars of what happened today for the rest of his life.’

The newspaper’s source said the inmate who attacked Murtagh was restrained immediately by officers inside the prison, and has now been segregated from other prisoners. The attack has also been referred to the police, reports said.

Mother Nadine Lott (pictured) was beaten so badly, her face was barely recognisable, and the ambulance crew who arrived at the scene were reported to be left deeply shocked

Mother Nadine Lott (pictured) was beaten so badly, her face was barely recognisable, and the ambulance crew who arrived at the scene were reported to be left deeply shocked

The inmate and another suspect believed to have also been involved in the attack are said to be relatively low-level criminals, with a reputation for violence inside the prison, the source added. It is thought the assault was an attempt by them to establish themselves at the top of the hierarchy inside the facility.

The Sunday World also reported the source saying that Kinahan Cartel gunman Gary Thompson was also beaten up by the same pair several weeks ago.

Thompson is serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence for his role in a plot to kill the brother of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, Patrick ‘Patsy’ Hutch.

Gerry himself is currently on trial in Ireland for the gangland murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016, which he denies.

Murtagh, from Clondalkin, has received a number of death threats during his time behind bars at Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.

According to The Sun, he was placed on a protection wing of the prison and kept separate from most of the prison population.

In July 2022, he was moved to the high-security Midlands Prison ‘for his own safety.’

Pictured: Family and friends of Nadine Lott gather outside court in 2021 after Daniel Murtagh was found guilty of her murder

Pictured: Family and friends of Nadine Lott gather outside court in 2021 after Daniel Murtagh was found guilty of her murder

Murtagh received a life sentence in October 2021. He initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter, before being unanimously found guilty of murder by a jury.

Nadine’s neighbour told the court how she found Murtagh ‘in a crouched position’ on top of the victim with his hands around her neck and shoulders. She said he was making a ‘growling noise’ and was ‘vicious with rage’ as he attacked her.

One of the first responders said they found Nadine ‘beaten to a pulp’.

In July last year, less than a year into his sentence, the killer attempted to get his conviction quashed. Ms Lott’s mother Claire told The Sun at the time that she accused the killer of trying to ‘retraumatise’ her family.

At the killer’s sentencing hearing, Claire said her family were left ‘haunted’ by the thoughts of their daughter being attacked by Murtagh, and of her ‘terror, fear, panic and cries’ during the ‘prolonged, evil attack’.

She described Murtagh as a ‘monster’, saying that the injuries he inflicted on her daughter were so horrific that even the staff at St Vincent’s Hospital were left shocked.

‘For people who witness a lot in their daily roles this was testament to the monstrosity and evil Nadine had endured in her final hours,’ she said at the time.

source: dailymail.co.uk