Daniel Lynch was found guilty by a majority verdict today (Tuesday, August 26) following a two-week trial at Truro Crown Court.
Daniel, who was 38 at the time of the attack, used a hammer-type weapon to strike his 39-year-old brother Shane over the head and body.
Shane suffered 11 separate wounds to his head in a brutal attack in the kitchen of his mother’s house in Illogan.
Daniel Lynch had denied a charge of murder, trying to tell the court that he was close to his brother, and laying the blame for the murder on a “mystery man” and also “the homeless lot.”
However, the jury agreed with the prosecution case that Daniel killed his brother, with evidence based on CCTV footage, phone data and forensics.
Shane’s body was discovered in the kitchen of their mother’s house in Bosmeor Park, Illogan, Cornwall, by his 22-year-old half brother, on November 12 last year.
The court was told that Daniel Lynch said he was asleep on a sofa at the house – just feet from the murder scene.
Prosecutor Miss Joanna Martin KC said there was evidence of motive and opportunity, and that Daniel had time and the ability to cover his tracks in the hope that he got away with the crime.
She told the defendant under cross examination: “You are comprehensively lying about all of this.
“You are the one who bludgeoned your brother to death. You want to get away with murder don’t you?”
Miss Martin told the court that Lynch had attacked his brother with a hammer type weapon and after killing him left the property with a rucksack – with a figure being caught on CCTV.
Lynch tried to claim that was not him, and that he was asleep on a sofa at the time, unaware of the fatal assault on his older sibling.
Miss Martin also said Lynch put on his brother’s jacket and ran around the front and back of the property to “make people think Shane was still alive.”
When his half brother raised the alarm, Lynch claimed he tried to help Shane, giving him CPR – but Miss Martin told him he did not help his brother at all, because in the short time he had, he took off grey tracksuit bottoms and threw them behind a toaster, and took off his hoodie and hid that under the sink.
The court was also told that Lynch turned on the washing machine, where his black jacket had been put by someone, although the defendant claimed he had actually turned off the machine.
Sentencing is expected to take place this afternoon.