The Government has appointed a former head of the Garda inspectorate to lead the imminent root and branch review of the force, despite her being embroiled in a multi-million euro overtime and management US court case last year.

A 60-year-old Irish woman with no college degree or legal training has successfully argued a case against her insurance company before the Washington state Supreme Court.

Gary Ridgway, the serial killer who terrorised Seattle in the early 1980s, tearfully apologised for “killing all those young ladies” as a judge sentenced him today to life in prison without the chance of release.

A boy who suffered liver failure after eating at a Seattle restaurant has won $10m in an out-of-court settlement.