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PICTOU, N.S. – Amber Kirwan‘s mother was in tears as a jury found Christopher Alexander Falconer guilty of the first-degree murder of her daughter.
Marjorie Kirwan said she was “very” happy her daughter’s killer had finally been convicted.
READ MORE: Amber Kirwan murder trial captivates small-town Nova Scotia
She sat with her husband, Donald, and her daughter’s boyfriend Mason Campbell.
Kirwan was on her way to meet Campbell early Oct. 9, 2011, after leaving a pool hall in New Glasgow.
Her body was found on Nov. 5, 2011, in a muddy grave on a wooded property in Heathbell, N.S., about 26 kilometres away from where she was last seen alive.
Her grave was just a short distance away from the home of Falconer’s step-sister, Alice Meier — a witness during the three-week trial.
Falconer, 31, sat emotionless as the jury of six women and six men delivered the guilty verdict.
It took them just 7.5 hours over two days, to reach the guilty verdict.
“I don’t think it was quick at all,” Crown attorney Bill Gorman said.
His father Scott Falconer and step-mother Sue Kelly were visibly upset and said nothing to reporters as they left the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Pictou.
Judge Nick Scaravelli sentenced Falconer to an automatic sentence of life in prison with no eligibility of parole for 25 years.
Police charged Falconer with the kidnapping and first-degree murder of Kirwan on May 17, 2012, while already in police custody.
He was detained on a parole violation four days after investigators discovered Kirwan’s body.
READ MORE: DNA expert links Chris Falconer and Amber Kirwan
Falconer was given full parole in May 2011 after serving 12 years in prison for the second-degree murder of a cab driver in 1998.
His parole was officially revoked on Feb. 14, 2012, a little less than three months before he was charged with Kirwan’s murder, after he pleaded guilty to drug possession and weapons charges.
Police found marijuana, a knife and a magazine with two bullets in it at the time of his arrest.
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