Murder hunt as father gunned down

GARDAÍ are searching for a lone gunman who blasted a 20-year-old father-of-one in the chest as his horrified girlfriend looked on.

The motive for the man’s murder remains unclear but detectives are appealing for anybody who may have witnessed a series of rows a few minutes earlier to contact them. These rows took place only a short distance from where the victim was gunned down.

Corkman John Butler was killed by a balaclava-clad gunman armed with a shotgun who approached him on foot as he was walking his long-time girlfriend, Rachel Thornhill, home.