Police Constable Noel Maitland was convicted in the Home Circuit Court on Thursday for the murder of his girlfriend Donna-Lee Donaldson, who was reported missing in 2022.

The seven-member jury of four men and three women started deliberations at 11:28 am and returned with the guilty verdict minutes after 3 pm.

Maitland was charged with the murder of the 24-year-old social media influencer and entrepreneur Donaldson, as well as preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

Donaldson has been missing since July 11, 2022, and her body has never been recovered.

Before retiring for deliberations, Justice Leighton Pusey instructed the jury to return a guilty verdict if they were certain beyond a reasonable doubt that Maitland committed the murder and, if not, should find him not guilty.

The prosecution relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, arguing that it formed an unbroken chain pointing to Maitland as the only person who could have caused Donaldson’s death.

The Crown highlighted blood evidence recovered from Maitland’s apartment at Chelsea Manor in St Andrew, the removal and disposal of furniture, and phone records tracking Maitland’s movements and communications after Donaldson’s disappearance.

Prosecutors also pointed to what they described as Maitland’s calculated behaviour in the days following Donaldson’s disappearance, including attempts to mislead investigators and members of her family.

The defence, however, maintained that the case was based on speculation and urged the jury to reject what it described as unreliable and incomplete evidence.

Maitland, in an unsworn statement from the dock, denied killing Donaldson, telling the court that he loved her and had no reason to harm her.