A Dublin man, who set up a fake Facebook account to meet a woman who had stopped contact with him, told gardaí he strangled her when she screamed on seeing the pellet gun, Stanley knife and cable ties he had brought to frighten her.

A homeless man has today appeared in court charged with the murder of a man who was stabbed after an argument broke out in Tallaght in Dublin last weekend.

A hit-and-run taxi driver who broke a red light and knocked down a five-year-old boy crossing the road has been ordered to pay a €1,000 fine or serve a one year prison sentence.