Victim threatened to reveal all about extra-marital affair, court told

After a woman threatened to reveal all about a sexual encounter she had with a married man, he beat her to death with a hammer, a prosecution barrister told a jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.

Roy Webster, aged 40, from Ashbree, Ashford, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Anne Shortall, 47, on April 3, 2015, at The Murrough, Co Wicklow. The plea was not accepted by the State.

Opening the trial, Paul Greene said the prosecution’s case is that Mr Webster and the deceased had a “sexual encounter” after meeting at a pub on December 20, 2014.