A 24-year-old Dublin man has been jailed for life for the murder of his teenage girlfriend in a derelict house in Ballsbridge in Dublin last year.
At the Central Criminal Court it took less than two hoursfor a jury to unanimously convict Phillip Reddin of the murder of 17-year-old Niamh Murphy at a house on Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge on May 10th, 2002.
Reddin, a father-of-one, who is originally from Donamore Park, Tallaght and now of no fixed abode had denied the charge.
He strangled Ms Murphy, who was from Galway, before cutting her throat with a garden shears during a row over his former girlfriend.
Reddin closed his eyes briefly as Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed themandatory sentence in what he called a "distressing case". He thanked thejury and exempted then from further jury service for 15 years.
Niamh Murphy first met Reddin in a drop-in centre in Galway in 2001. Reddin,who was one of seven children had left home when he was 15 and was livingrough in Galway at the time. The couple moved to Dublin a few months beforethe murder and had been living between hostels and squats in the city.