Wicklow man jailed for life for murdering friend with rock

A man has been jailed for life for murdering his friend in Wicklow.

Thomas O’Connor of Burnaby Court in Greystones claimed he was acting in self-defence when he beat John O’Brien with a rock in June 2010.

His plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter was not accepted by the DPP and a jury found him guilty of murder earlier this week.

In her victim impact statement, his fiancée Alice spoke of the heartache she felt when she had to ask her florist to change her wedding bouquets into funeral wreaths.