‘Worst mother in the world’ walks free after 5 years

The mother at the centre of the notorious Roscommon ‘house of horrors’ case is due to be released from prison today.

The 45-year-old, who described herself as the “worst mother in the world”, will leave Dóchas Women’s Centre at Mount-joy Prison after serving five years. She was jailed in January 2009 for the maximum term of seven years for incest, sexual abuse, neglect, and willful ill-treatment of her six children at the Co Roscommon home, dubbed the House of Horrors. The woman had a quarter of her sentence reduced for good behaviour.

The children, aged from 6 to 15, were not fed properly, their clothes were not washed, and the range which heated the home was only lit once a month. There were dead rats and mice inside and outside the council-owned house.