A man who used a belt and pillow to suffocate a fellow patient in a psychiatric unit has today been jailed for eight years.

The Central Criminal Court has today heard that a man smothered a fellow patient in a psychiatric unit because he had been fantasizing about going to prison.

A consultant psychiatrist has told a court it is his view that a Cavan man who smothered another patient in a psychiatric unit was insane from drug withdrawal symptoms.

A man is due to appear in court later this morning charged in connection with the death of a man in Cavan yesterday.