Tension replaced by air of sadness

A SOLITARY magpie landed on a tree outside Court No 6 as Eamonn Lillis listened to a synopsis of the evidence heard during his trial for the unlawful killing of his wife, Celine Cawley.

As metaphors go, the bird’s symbolism was striking with its sorrowful resonance as well as its association with freedom and the loss of such freedom that Lillis will suffer after being found guilty of his wife’s manslaughter.

The bird was the only sign of life outside the futuristic, yet soulless, Criminal Courts of Justice complex for the entire duration of the 80-minute hearing, as Mr Justice Barry White postponed sentencing for a 24-hour period given the complexity of the competing arguments for long and short terms of imprisonment.