Man accused of killing woman threatening to tell his wife they slept together, lied to police, trial hears

A Wicklow murder trial has heard the accused lied about where his alleged victim was on the day he killed her.

Roy Webster, a cabinet maker from Ashbree in Ashford, has pleaded guilty to Anne Shortall’s manslaughter, but not guilty to her murder.

Anne Shortall’s daughters Emma and Alanna gave evidence of becoming worried when their mother didn't come home on Good Friday 2015.

She left without her phone and Emma said she noticed a message on it from ASHWOOD KITCHENS, a business owned by the accused.

It read: “I’m at The Leitrim” – a pub in Wicklow Town. A reply was sent to say she’d be there in five minutes.

When Emma rang the number, she said it went straight to Roy Webster’s voicemail.

Gardaí spoke to him over the phone the following day and he said Anne was talking about going to London when he met her briefly the day before.

Mr. Webster was married with two children at the time, and it is the State’s case that he murdered her because she was threatening to reveal they’d slept together four months beforehand.

Yesterday, the jury heard she was beaten to death with a hammer and that Mr. Webster claims she was looking for money from him for an abortion.