Murder trial jury sent to hotel by judge

A jury in the trial of a Dublin man accused of the murder of his ex-girlfriend and serious assault on her mother was sent to a hotel tonight after spending three-and-a-half hours deliberating in the jury room.

Declan Burke, aged 29, with a last address on the South Circular Road, Dublin 8, has accepted that he was responsible for the stabbings, but he denied charges of the murder of Ms Jennifer Wilkinson, aged 24, at her home in the Rise, Boden Park, Ballyboden, Dublin on December 13 2000 and assault causing serious harm of Mrs Mary Wilkinson, aged 57, on the same date.

The jury of seven men and five women retired at 4pm this evening.

Mr Justice Barry White told them that there were three possible verdicts on the first charge: guilty of murder, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, or guilty but insane.

He said the prosecution case was essentially that Burke was someone who was bad, who killed Jennifer Wilkinson in cold blood, and intended to stab her mother.

The defence case was that Burke was not someone that was bad, but someone that was mad, and even if not mad, someone who was not capable of forming a rational intention to kill, the judge said.

The case has so far lasted six days in the Central Criminal Court.