The remains of Alan Hawe, who murdered his wife and children before taking his own life last summer, were exhumed yesterday from the grave he shared with his victims in Cavan.

The man suspected of murdering mother Patricia Kierans shot her shortly after she arrived home, before going on a drinking binge leading to an eight-hour siege in Bailieborough, Co Cavan.

Patricia Kierans’ son, Shane, had just disembarked from a plane to London, the first stopover on his long journey to Australia, when the crushing news came that his mother had been found dead in the family home in Co Cavan.

A 16-year-old Co Cavan youth has appeared before Virginia District Court this morning in connection with the death of a 70-year-old pensioner.