A “career criminal” who preyed on elderly people alone in their homes has been given an eight-year sentence for a year-long string of crimes against vulnerable victims.

A MOTHER who would have celebrated her 44th birthday this weekend, perished in a horrific house fire along with her eight-year-old daughter in the early hours of Saturday morning.

State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy will carry out post mortems later today on the bodies of a mother and child killed in a house fire in Co Wexford.

Gardaí have named the victims of this morning's fire in Co Wexford.

A mother-of-four died trying to save her young daughter from a devastating house fire at their family home in Co Wexford, neighbours said today.