Ciprian Grozavu strangled a happy-go-lucky Englishman in a flat in Bandon using a homemade ligature while Catherine O’Connor stabbed him repeatedly in the face with two jagged ends of a broken Manchester United mug.

The family of the Englishman murdered in Bandon said his four children would have to grow up without their father and that people capable of such violent acts as that committed by Ciprian Grozavu should not be allowed their freedom.

President Mary Mc Aleese has offered her sympathy to all those affected by the Air India plane crash off the coast of Co Cork 20 years ago.

President Mary McAleese and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin are in west Cork this morning to commemorate the anniversary of the 1985 Air India plane disaster.