Edward Johnston was killed by Maltese police on a beach in the early hours of Monday morning following a three-hour stand-off.
Nicolette Ghirxi (48) was stabbed to death in an apartment in Birkirkara, a town about 7km west of the capital Valletta. Police said they shot dead her ex-partner Edward Johnston (50), who is suspected of her killing.
He was killed by Maltese police on a beach in the early hours of Monday morning following a three-hour stand-off.
This incident was not Johnston’s first time facing authorities, Malta Today reports.
He had previously been jailed for 28 months after making a bomb threat at an Italian restaurant in Glasgow in 2012.
He admitted to telling a waiter that he had a bomb and ordered them to evacuate other diners from the restaurant.
An eight-hour standoff involving armed police and bomb disposal officers then ensued, with Johnston repeatedly saying he wanted the police to shoot and kill him.
He was later arrested and a court heard how Johnston had been struggling after his wife had to terminate a pregnancy on medical grounds, which had a “traumatic effect” on him.
Johnston was also involved in a similar incident a week earlier in Liverpool, with armed police cornering him as he waved a toy submachine gun around while drunk in the city centre.
He had told a hotel concierge that he was “either going to kill someone or get killed tonight”, according to news reports at the time.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, which he served with his other sentence.
Senior sources have confirmed that Edward William Johnston (50) is an Irish national but had not lived in Ireland for a number of years. He has no previous criminal convictions in this jurisdiction.
The police in Malta reported him to be a former soldier from Ireland but a Defence Forces spokesperson said: “The Defence Forces has no record of service for a Mr Edward Johnston”.
Edward Johnston and Nicolette Ghirxi
Johnston also ran a YouTube channel under the name Edwardo Sambora where he made videos about trading and financial independence, with his last video being posted three weeks ago.
Initial reports indicated that Nicolette Ghirxi was killed in her apartment in Triq Maestro Giuseppe Busuttil in the Birkirkara suburb of Swatar. She had suffered upper-body knife injuries and two knives were discovered close to her body.
Johnston had gone to the Hilton hotel in St Julian’s at midnight and asked for a drink but pulled out a gun when he was told the bar was closed.
Police were alerted when they received a report of a man in St Julian’s wielding a gun and saying he had murdered someone. Police commissioner Angelo Gafa told a news conference on Monday that Johnston told police he had murdered a woman.
A police negotiator was brought in and two police teams were deployed, one to Birkirkara, where they found the woman’s apartment door locked and had to break in to find the victim dead.
The other unit was deployed to the Hilton. Police cordoned off the area behind the Hilton Hotel where Johnston was later shot dead.
Johnston was in the sea with a gun pointed at his head at St Julian’s and despite police negotiators descending on the scene, he leapt at one of the officers, resulting in him being shot.
He was transported to Mater Dei Hospital and was later confirmed dead, Mr Gafa confirmed.
It transpired the gun Johnston was holding was a replica of a Beretta pistol.
Ms Ghirxi’s family have said Johnston began harassing his former partner when she ended a two-year relationship between them. They alleged he ran a number of fake social media accounts which were used to harass and slander her.
She filed police reports on two occasions with regard to her former partner, Maltese police confirmed.
There were no previous reports of violence between the two but in April, Ms Ghirxi filed two harassment reports against Johnston after receiving some emails from him when they broke up.
However, she decided against carrying out a risk assessment, telling police and social welfare officials she did not believe she was at risk.
She filed another report of harassment in May, again linked to emails.
At the time, police established that Johnston was not in Malta, Mr Gafa said, describing the emails as being harassment but not of a threatening nature.
“The victim herself told us she did not feel threatened and messages we saw also indicated as much,” Mr Gafa said at a press conference earlier this week.
In July, the victim again contacted police about a number of slanderous social media posts about her and said she suspected Johnston.
Ms Ghirxi was so unsettled by the situation that she shared her Facebook account credentials with a family member “just in case something happened to her”.
Last Thursday, she told police by email that Johnston may be in Malta.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament and a Maltese citizen, said: “Nicolette Ghirxi should be alive today. Instead, Malta must bury another daughter. Another woman murdered, with her former partner the prime suspect.
“Our grief must turn into action. Our anger must fuel change. The epidemic of violence against women cannot go on. Not one more. Be their voice.”
A spokesperson for the Irish embassy said it was “aware of the incident” and would offer consular assistance to relatives.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the case and was providing consular assistance, and added that the department did not comment on the details of individual cases.
