Joe O'Reilly, who was found guilty at the weekend of murdering his wife Rachel at their home at the Naul, Co Dublin in October 2004, had not lodged an appeal against his conviction by last night, according to informed sources.
However, it is understood that this is not unusual, and that it could take at least three days for such an appeal, if it is to go ahead, to be submitted.
Although the judge in his trial had refused O'Reilly leave to appeal, defence lawyers have two weeks to lodge any appeal.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, the victim's mother Rose Callaly said that she had known "in my heart" that O'Reilly had murdered her daughter during her much publicised appearance with him on the Late Late Showa few weeks after her death.
At the time, the pair appeared together in an attempt to highlight the case. "It was very, very, very difficult, because if you even have a half a per cent of a doubt, I was very very conscious of . . . if you're thinking this of this man who such a horrific thing has happened to him, and he has two young children, and I just felt absolutely horrible even thinking things like that," Mrs Callaly said.
"It would have been the worst scenario in our lives that it would happen to be Rachel's husband . . . the worst thing that could have happened was what it turned out to be. You're trying to think of a million and one other ways that it could have happened."
"I sort of came out of the house two days after Rachel died really knowing that Joe had killed Rachel, but Jim [Mrs Callaly's husband] was telling me it was all shock and everything, and I tried, believe you me, I tried to see it from every angle. And I was trying to see it another way, but the more time went on, and the more I heard and the more I saw, I just became more convinced, so I suppose very early on I knew."
Also speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday evening, Late Late Showpresenter Pat Kenny described how O'Reilly had come across as "affable". But he also found it odd that O'Reilly had been so willing to talk about the injuries which his late wife had received.
Asked if the interview had been edited to avoid showing any "nasty looks" between Rose Callaly and O'Reilly, Kenny stressed that it had been recorded live, adding that gardaí had given permission for the interview to go ahead. It may well be that one of his research team was interviewed by gardaí, he said.