A man arrested for the murder of his ex-wife after a near eight-hour stand-off with gardai remains under armed guard in hospital.

The man suspected of murdering mother Patricia Kierans shot her shortly after she arrived home, before going on a drinking binge leading to an eight-hour siege in Bailieborough, Co Cavan.

Patricia Kierans’ son, Shane, had just disembarked from a plane to London, the first stopover on his long journey to Australia, when the crushing news came that his mother had been found dead in the family home in Co Cavan.

Gardaí are to due launch a murder investigation, following the discovery of a 54-year-old woman's body in Co Cavan.