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Search forCullen gets 15 years for murder
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 17:00
The 22-year-old was convicted by a jury of eight women and four men following a 13-day trial at Swansea Crown Court.
Cullen, of Elan Avenue, Clase, showed no emotion when the guilty verdict was announced shortly after 1pm.
But some supporters in the public gallery burst into tears and left the courtroom in distress.
The jury had discussed the evidence for more than eight hours.
Cullen was sentenced later in the afternoon by the Recorder of Swansea, Judge John Diehl QC.
The mandatory sentence for murder is life imprisonment.
But Mr Diehl said Cullen would have to spend 15 years behind bars before becoming eligible to apply to the Parole Board for release on licence.
Even then he would only be released if the board considered it safe for this to happen.
A major police investigation was launched earlier this year after Mr Mellin, a 53-year-old alcoholic, was found battered to death at his flat in Ystwyth Place, Clase.
Cullen murdered him in a ferocious late-night attack on May 24.
Cullen pleaded not guilty. The defence claimed he did not inflict the injuries Mr Mellin died from and someone else was the killer.
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