A 61-year-old man was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday after he was convicted of the murder of 54-year-old Waterford mother of two Mary "Mamie" Walsh.
Her body was found in the boot of her car on August 31st, 2004.
She died from severe head injuries and was found covered in a bloodstained sheet with a rope loosely tied around her neck.
The jury of 10 men and two women took just over three hours to return their unanimous verdict that Samuel Jennings, originally from Scotland, was guilty of murder.
Ms Walsh's family cheered and cried when the verdict was read out.
A victim impact statement read to the court described the hole left by the murder in a close family.
Ms Walsh was described as gentle, kind and forgiving. The statement said that for those who were there when the car boot was opened: "How poor Mamie looked on the outside then is how we all feel on the inside now."
Mr Justice Barry White sentenced Jennings, who showed no emotion after the verdict was handed down, to the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
During the trial the court heard that Ms Walsh, a loan company agent, was killed for the money she was due to lodge in the bank.
Jennings was due to meet Ms Walsh on August 30th, 2004. He was in financial difficulties but after this date Jennings saw a significant improvement in his financial condition and there were lodgments in bank accounts associated with him.
Jennings, previously of Ashtown, Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Mary Walsh of Glendalligan, Kilrossanty, Co Waterford, on a date unknown between August 30th and September 1st, 2004.
The jury heard that Ms Walsh worked as an agent for Provident Personal Credit Ltd.
It was part of her job to lodge the loan repayments she had collected. Jennings had spent a brief time working for Provident Personal Credit Ltd and he was also a client.
Ms Walsh had given him training for the job.
Peadar Walsh, the deceased woman's husband, told the jury that his wife had been working at home all day on Sunday, August 29th. She had placed the blue lodgment bag beside the bed ready to bring to the bank the next morning.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the court that Ms Walsh died from severe head injuries caused by multiple blows with a blunt object.