Man convicted in Brett MacKinnon murder must serve 15 years before parole

In this Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 file photo, Thomas Ted Barrett of Glace Bay arrives at Nova Scotia provincial court in Halifax. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

SYDNEY, N.S. -- A Cape Breton man who strangled a 19-year-old woman in what a judge described as a thrill killing will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 15 years.

Thomas Ted Barrett appeared Wednesday for a sentencing hearing before Judge Robin Gogan in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Sydney, N.S.

In an interview following the sentencing, Crown attorney Katherine Pentz said the judge accepted a joint recommendation by the Crown and Barrett's lawyer.

"That (sentence) was in accordance with case law," said Pentz. "Fifteen years, we felt, was in the range as to what our court of appeals spoke to."

The range under which a judge decides parole eligibility is 10 to 25 years.

Barrett, 41, was found guilty last month of the second-degree murder of Brett McKinnon, whose remains were found in 2008 near a Glace Bay hiking trail, two years after she went missing.

The Crown's case relied partly on Sheryl Flynn's videotaped statement to police in 2012 of what Barrett told her about the killing during a conversation in 2009.

Flynn's so-called "beyond the grave evidence" was given before her overdose death in October 2013.

Flynn told police Barrett had said that he felt "a rush" of adrenaline as his hands tightened around McKinnon's throat.

In finding Barrett guilty last month, Gogan said Flynn's evidence was weakened because there couldn't be a cross-examination by the defence.

However, she said it was consistent with a "bizarre pattern of disclosure" by Barrett to people he knew, and that helped to build the case against him. She said, "It belies coincidence."

In explaining her decision, Gogan said Barrett continued to strangle McKinnon because watching her die "excited him."

The judge also said she accepted the Crown's theory that Barrett wrapped the young woman in a carpet and then took her to a location and disposed of her.

Barrett is scheduled to return to court in the fall when he is to face another charge of second-degree murder in the death of Laura Jessome, 21.

Jessome's body was found in a hockey bag in the Mira River in 2012.

- by Keith Doucette in Halifax