Construction worker Martin Early broke down in tears and hugged members of his legal team in court after a jury, on the directions of a judge, acquitted him of the murder of a young, pregnant, woman almost 14 years ago.

Suspected murder victim Sandra Collins would have paid a total of £295 sterling had she gone ahead with her plans to terminate her pregnancy in Britain, it emerged yesterday.

A Mayo woman who has been missing since December 2000 had a positive pregnancy test confirmed by her GP on the day she disappeared, the Central Criminal Court has been told.

GARDAÍ investigating the disappearance and suspected murder of a woman in Co Mayo in 2000 have arrested a woman who was only 11 at the time.

THE sister of a carer who vanished after a trip to the chipper more than 10 years ago has made a fresh appeal for the return of her body.