Suspect in killing binge drank before 8-hour siege

The man suspected of murdering mother Patricia Kierans shot her shortly after she arrived home, before going on a drinking binge leading to an eight-hour siege in Bailieborough, Co Cavan.

Gardaí said the man was “heavily intoxicated and volatile” and feared he could end up shooting someone else, shoot himself or leave his barricaded pub with his weapon in an attempt to force gardaí to shoot him.

“This was a very dangerous night,” said a Garda source. “He had already used his weapon and there was the potential he would use it again on himself or other people or it could be another Abbeylara.”