Kearney appeal to be heard later in year

AN APPEAL by Brian Kearney against his conviction for the murder of his wife Siobhán at their family home will be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) later this year.

Last March, Kearney was found guilty of murdering his wife and mother of their young son at the family’s home at Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, on February 28, 2006 — his 49th birthday. Kearney had denied the charge.

Yesterday at the CCA, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman was told that Kearney’s appeal is not yet ready to proceed. The case will be mentioned before the court at a case management list later in the current legal term with a view to fixing a date for the hearing of the appeal.

Following a 13-day trial, Kearney, 51, was found guilty of his 38-year-old wife’s murder by a majority jury verdict of 11 to one after five hours and 24 minutes of deliberation in the Central Criminal Court.

Mr Justice Barry White imposed the mandatory life sentence on Kearney.

The court heard that he strangled her in her room, then used a vacuum cleaner flex as a ligature before trying to hoist her over the en-suite door to make it look like a suicide.