A 32-year-old man found to have been insane when he beat his neighbour to death with a crowbar, posted about 2,000 videos of himself reading the bible on YouTube, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

A judge has ordered that a man is unfit to stand trial for an alleged sexual assault on a child because of a mental disorder.

A judge has said he will have little option but to release a man likely to be found not guilty by reason of insanity unless state services can provide the acute in-patient mental health care he needs.

A 50-year-old woman with schizophrenia has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital (CMH), after being deemed unfit to stand trial for murder.

The family of a man stabbed to death by his schizophrenic stepson has said that the mental health system in Ireland had let two families down.

A 50-year-old woman with schizophrenia has been deemed unfit to stand trial for the murder of a Malawian national at her south Dublin home last year.

The parents of a man, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his mother's partner by reason of insanity, took him to hospital just weeks earlier after he told them he had to kill the deceased.

It is now “crystal clear” to prison staff and managers that the failure to monitor vulnerable inmates will result in dismissal, the head of the Irish Prison Service has said.

A man who murdered his infant son 17 years ago is seeking to have his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice on grounds that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in recent years.

A youth accused of murdering a Japanese man in a stabbing in Dundalk is to face a fitness-to-plead hearing to determine whether he should stand trial, a court has heard.

Inspections have raised concerns over the standard of food at the Central Mental Hospital and, in some circumstances, undignified care for the dying at another mental health facility.

A man who is not mentally ill but whose behaviour is “violent and challenging” must remain inappropriately detained in a ward of chronically mentally ill patients because there is no suitable place here to address his needs, the president of the High Court has said.

Half of all patients who are detained in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) have been charged with, or convicted of, murder.

A dispute over the appropriate procedure for the detention in the Central Mental Hospital of a mentally ill man, described as dangerous and a “grave” risk to himself and others, has come before the High Court.

A new charge of harassment has been dropped against a garda who was previously found not guilty by reason of insanity for harassing a married female sergeant.

A man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia who killed his parents with an axe has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.

A woman found guilty but insane over the killing of her baby son was not entitled to damages over a refusal to allow her decide where she could live after her discharge from a mental institution, the High Court has ruled.

An autistic man who beat his mother to death in a “very sad case, with a sad background narrative”, has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.

A farm worker who subjected an elderly man, his daughter and her fiance to a terrifying hostage ordeal involving a double barrelled shotgun is at significant risk of relapse in his mental health.

A man who strangled his brother to death with a bungee cord before hiding his body in a pit by the Cliffs of Moher has been found not guilty of his murder by reason of insanity.

A Kilkenny man who stabbed shop worker Mairead Moran to death at her workplace and was found not guilty of her murder by reason of insanity, has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital.

Legal challenges on behalf of mentally disturbed people being detained in hospital — and who are unable to give instructions to lawyers — should only be brought where there has been a gross abuse of power or failure of fundamental requirements in relation to their liberty, the Court of Appeal has said.

A man who harassed a woman for nine months had been hearing voices warning him he would be menaced by evil spirits if he disobeyed them, a court has heard.

A man who was found guilty but insane of the murder of his mother died after stabbing himself in the neck, an inquest has heard.

The tragic case in Cobh, Co Cork, highlights the treatment of those with mental disorders by the criminal justice system.

A prisoner who repeatedly asked to be moved to a psychiatric facility so he would not kill himself was later found hanging in his cell.

An activist charged with the murder of her partner, Tyrone McKenna, in Dublin last week is being assessed in the Central Mental Hospital, a court heard yesterday.

Delays in supplying important documentation "prolonged" the Commission of Investigation into the death of prisoner Gary Douch — and many documents were "incomplete, piecemeal and sometimes illegible".

Psychotic killer Stephen Egan did not receive proper psychiatric care in prison after he fatally assaulted Gary Douch in a packed cell in August 2006.

TO the damning prison reports straining the shelves at Prison Service HQ, comes another four-volume dossier. Totalling almost 800 pages, the reports of the Commission of Investigation into the death of Gary Douch make for grim reading.

A judge has refused to strike out the case of an Italian man accused of the murder of well-known religious affairs writer Tom O’Gorman and has granted the DPP more time to complete the book of evidence.

A €373m interest-only loan backing an Irish commercial mortgage bond failed to repay at maturity after the underlying properties halved in value.

Stopping the use of certain tranquillisers in prisons and hospitals reduces the levels of violence and self-harm and helps raise health standards, according to the country’s leading forensic psychiatrist.

Double killer John Gallagher has avoided prosecution and a possible jail term for absconding from custody after a judge found that a summons was incorrectly served.

A judge has deferred ruling on whether a prosecution brought against double killer John Gallagher for absconding from custody should be struck out.

A mother charged with the murder of her son in Co Cork could not be brought to court as she was medically unfit.

The Mother of Anthony Ward has appeared in court in Limerick, charged with her son's murder.

A court last night ordered that a mother charged with the murder of her son should be examined by a forensic psychiatrist at the female wing of Mountjoy prison.

Gardaí are examining whether or not they can take a criminal prosecution against double killer John Gallagher, who voluntarily returned to the Central Mental Hospital on May 14 after 12 years on the run.

Seven patients were granted conditional release from the Central Mental Hospital last year, the first such discharges under a new legal system.

A son of Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa, who is charged with assaulting his father, is fit to stand trial, a judge was told today.

A son of Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa, who is charged with assaulting his father, is to spend Christmas on remand in the Central Mental Hospital.

THE Central Mental Hospital is facing a raft of legal challenges because offenders are not being rehabilitated adequately due to chronic staff shortages, the head of the country’s most high- profile unit has warned.