Cold-case murder trial told 'bible study member strangled widow and set her house on fire'

A cold-case murder trial has been told that a member of a bible study group strangled a widowed pensioner and set her Kilkenny house on fire shortly after a publican had dropped her home ‘for safety’, writes Natasha Reid.

John Joseph Malone is charged with murdering 69-year-old Ann (Nancy) Smyth on 11 September 1987 at her home on Wolfe Tone Street in Kilkenny City.