A man was beginning a life sentence in the United States today after he admitted kidnapping and murdering a 67-year-old Irish nun.

SISTER PHILOMENA FOGARTY led a life of nobility, love and care. To have it end in such a brutal way is shocking, a close friend said yesterday.

Police in the US believed tonight they had found the dismembered body of an Irish nun who had been abducted by a 25-year-old man shortly after he had murdered his father.