By Lauren Krugel The Canadian Press

Edward Downey sentencing today

Mar 8, 2019 | 6:47 AM

CALGARY – A sentencing hearing is to begin today for a Calgary man convicted of killing a woman and her young daughter.

A jury found Edward Downey guilty last year of first-degree murder in the 2016 deaths of Sara Baillie and five-year-old Taliyah Marsman.

The Crown told the trial that Downey believed Baillie had influenced her best friend to break up with him and that Baillie had convinced that friend to refuse working for him as an escort.

The prosecution further argued that Baillie’s daughter was a witness who needed silencing.

Downey repeatedly denied the killings in his testimony, and his lawyers argued someone else was responsible.

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The convictions come with an automatic life sentence, but a judge is to determine whether Downey must wait 25 or 50 years before he can apply for parole.

(The Canadian Press)