>
An Irish killer who beat his ex-girlfriend to death while her six-year-old daughter slept nearby has been attacked in prison.
Daniel Murtagh, 36, had his face slashed ‘from temple to chin’ at Midlands prison on Tuesday and could be scarred for life, according to reports.
Murtagh was jailed for life after beating 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 recognizable, and ambulance personnel who arrived on the scene were reportedly shocked by her injuries.
Daniel Murtagh (left), 36, had his face slashed ‘from temple to chin’ at Midlands prison on Tuesday and could be scarred for life, according to reports. Murtagh was jailed for life after beating 30-year-old Nadine Lott (right) to death with her bare hands at her home in 2019.
Pictured: Killer Daniel Murtagh is seen in handcuffs being brought into court in 2019. The killer was left injured after being attacked in prison and had to be rushed to Portlaoise Hospital after losing a ‘severe’ amount of blood , according to reports.
Ms Lott died three days later of her “extreme and grotesque” injuries at St Vincent’s Hospital. At trial it was heard that she suffered “traumatic injuries to the head, neck and chest”.
Now Murtagh himself has been left injured after being attacked in prison, having to be rushed to Portlaoise Hospital after losing a “serious” amount of blood.
A source told the Irish newspaper The sunday world that the killer has a tendency to get on the wrong side of other inmates, and this “ultimately came back to him.”
The incident began at landing B1 at approximately 5 p.m. [on Tuesday]’ a source at the prison told the newspaper. ‘Murtagh is a recluse who rubs people over evil and it seems it has finally come back on him.
The boy who attacked him cut him open from temple to chin. Murtagh was losing a lot of blood when staff reached him and he had to be rushed to Portlaoise Hospital.
“Despite the best efforts of the staff, he lost a large amount of blood and is still there under guard tonight,” the source added. She will carry the scars of what happened today for the rest of her life.
The newspaper’s source said the inmate who attacked Murtagh was immediately held by officers inside the prison and has now been separated from other inmates. The attack has also been referred to the police, according to reports.
Mother Nadine Lott (pictured) was beaten so badly her face was barely recognizable, and ambulance staff who arrived on the scene were reportedly left in shock.
The inmate and another suspect who was also involved in the attack are said to be relatively low-level criminals with a reputation for violence within the prison, the source added. The assault is believed to have been an attempt by them to establish themselves at the top of the hierarchy within the facility.
The Sunday World also reported that the source said Kinahan Cartel gunman Gary Thompson was also beaten up by the same couple several weeks ago.
Thompson is serving a 12 1/2 year sentence for his role in a plot to kill Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch’s brother, Patrick ‘Patsy’ Hutch.
Gerry himself is currently on trial in Ireland for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016, something he denies.
Murtagh, from Clondalkin, has received several death threats during his time behind bars at Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison.
According to Sunwho was placed in a protective wing of the prison and kept separate from the majority of the prison population.
In July 2022, he was transferred to the Midlands High Security Prison “for his own safety”.
Pictured: Nadine Lott’s family and friends gather outside court in 2021 after Daniel Murtagh was found guilty of Nadine’s murder
Murtagh received a life sentence in October 2021. He initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter, before a jury unanimously found him guilty of murder.
Nadine’s neighbor told the court how she found Murtagh “in a crouching position” on top of the victim with his hands around her neck and shoulders. She said that she was making a “snarling noise” and that she was “fierce with rage” when he attacked her.
One of the first responders said they found Nadine ‘beaten to a pulp’.
In July of last year, less than a year after his sentencing, the killer tried to have his conviction overturned. Ms Lott’s mother, Claire, told The Sun at the time that she accused her daughter’s killer of trying to “re-traumatize” her family.
At the murderer’s sentencing hearing, Claire said her family was “haunted” by thoughts that Murtagh had attacked their daughter, and their “terror, fear, panic and crying” during the “protracted, evil attack”.
She described Murtagh as a “monster” and said the injuries he inflicted on Nadine were so horrific that even staff at St Vincent’s Hospital were shocked.
“For people who witness a lot in their daily roles, this was a testament to the monstrosity and evil that Nadine had endured in her final hours,” he said at the time.