A former Fine Gael councillor convicted of receiving corrupt payments remained a free man yesterday after his sentencing hearing was adjourned until late June.

Evidence in the trial of a former Fine Gael politician accused of accepting corrupt payments had told a rather sordid tale of “jealousy, anger, and rage,” the ex-councillor’s lawyer said yesterday.

A former Fine Gael town councillor has told a corruption trial that the mother of his estranged wife told him she would “stab him to death” if he did not repay €10,000 he had borrowed from her daughter.