Jury still out in parents murder case

The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering his parents is returning for deliberations this morning.

The Central Criminal Court jury of five men and six women was sent by Mr Justice Paul Carney to consider their verdict yesterday afternoon.

After four hours, they returned without reaching one and were sent to a hotel for the night.

John Francis Dolan, aged 27, of Ravensdale Road, East Wall in Dublin, denies that he murdered his parents in June 1999.

He is accused of murdering his 56-year-old mother Gertrude and 71-year-old father John.

The bodies of his parents were discovered in a badly decomposed state and were only identified from dental records.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard how Dolan had told gardai under questioning that he stabbed his mother because she was always drunk but he regretted killing his father.