GARDAÍ have threatened to protest outside a station where conditions have been described as “Dickensian”.

GARDAÍ believe that thousands of euro worth of MP3 players and other electrical equipment stolen from a retailer in a Cork suburb could be sold on at knock-down prices.

An 18 year-old Corkman on trial for the murder and rape of a woman in a Co Cork park in 2000 provided the gardaí with a saliva and head hair sample, but said he had a fear of needles and did not wish to give a blood sample, a murder trial jury heard today.

Gardai investigating the murder and rape of a 22 year-old woman in a Co Cork park in 2000 identified a motorbike recovered in a derelict stone house not far from the scene as that belonging to a man accused of the attack.

An 18 year-old Cork man on trial for the rape and murder of a woman in 2000 told gardai that he was in the park "spinning around" on his motorbike at the time the attack took place.