A Dundalk man has been jailed for eight years for the manslaughter of a woman in a contract killing. Philip Andrew Quigley (24), of St Nicholas Avenue, Dundalk, Co Louth, was acquitted last week of the murder of a Newry civil servant, Ms Rose Moran (31), but convicted of her manslaughter.
Quigley claimed she was killed as she tried to foil a burglary on her home which had been organised by her husband. He claimed her actual murderer was a second Dundalk man, Danny Larkin, who "went mad" and repeatedly stabbed her. Quigley admitted he, too, stabbed her.
In February 1995 Joe Moran's lover, Anita McKeown, a niece of Mrs Moran's by marriage, was jailed for eight years for plotting her murder.