Killer Joe O’Reilly is to appeal his conviction for murdering his wife and mother of their two young children in their home, it was confirmed tonight.

As Joe O’Reilly woke up on the first morning of a life sentence in Mountjoy prison the families of those whose killers have never been caught were given new hope.

Dubliner Joe O’Reilly was tonight convicted of murdering his wife Rachel after a four-week trial that gripped Ireland.

Gardaí in Dublin have confirmed they are now treating the death of a woman in the north of the county this week as murder.