‘My son died on the whim of another’, says mother of Wexford man

A Wexford man who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s partner when he should have been in jail for assault has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

James Connors, aged 29, of Rosemount, Drinagh, Co Wexford, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jason Ryan, aged 27, at Hollyville Heights in Wexford on January 25, 2012. After 11 hours and 21 minutes of deliberations, the jury of seven men and five women at the Central Criminal Court found him guilty of murder by a 10 to two majority.

The victim’s mother, Catherine Ryan, wrote a victim impact statement that was read to the court by Lisa Dempsey, prosecuting.

She said: “How do you describe what it’s like to have your healthy, glowing son die because of the whim of another person?”

Ms Ryan said she is lonely even when surrounded by her family and that she misses the sound of her son and his laughter. She said she is trapped in her own ‘Groundhog Day’ and that her family can never be as they were before Jason was killed.

“I miss the devilment and miss the way he called me ‘mother’,” she said.

“There is a hole in my life and only Jason coming back will ever fill it. But that’s never going to be. Death is a very final state.”

She said she is angry that Jason’s life was cut short by the “decision of another man” and her family’s life turned upside down and inside out.

Connors had numerous previous convictions. In March 2009, he was sentenced to five years in prison for assault causing harm. He was given Christmas leave for that offence in December 2011 but failed to return to jail when his leave ended and he murdered Mr Ryan in January 2012.