Judge allows jurors in Laois murder trial to return majority verdict

The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering Laois nanny Aoife Phelan has been told it can return a majority verdict.

25-year-old Robert Corbet of Sheffield Cross, Portlaoise admits strangling Ms Phelan during a row in October 2012 but says he didn't mean to kill her.

He claims she threatened to ruin his life if he didn't stand by her and her pregnancy but a post mortem found she wasn't carrying a child at the time.

It is open to the jurors to find Robert Corbet guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.