A 61-year-old Scottish man was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin today after he was convicted of the murder of 54-year-old Waterford mother of two Mary Walsh.
The jury of ten men and two men took just over three hours to return their unanimous verdict that Samuel Jennings was guilty of murder.
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 Mrs Walsh,a loan company agent was killed for the money she was due to lodge in the bank.
The jury heard that Mrs Walsh had sustained 9 head injuries that caused significant damage to her skull and brain. She was also found with a piece of rope around her neck, which also contributed to her death.
Jennings was due to meet Mrs Walsh on August 30th 2004 and after this date Jennings saw a significant improvement in his financial condition and there were lodgements in bank accounts associated with him.
Jennings previously of Ashtown, Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mrs Mary Walsh of Glendalligan, Kilrossanty, Co Waterford on a date unknown between August 30th and September 1st 2004.
The body of the mother-of-two was found in the boot of a car on August 31st. The jury heard that Mamie Walsh worked as an agent for Provident Personal Credit Ltd.
It was part of her job to lodge the loan repayments she had collected. Samuel Jennings had spent a brief time working for Provident Personal Credit Ltd and he was also a client.
Mrs Walsh had given him training for the job, the jury heard that at the time of the killing Jennings was in serious financial difficulty.
Jennings had said he was in Dun Laoghaire when he was not and that he said he was in Belgium on his way to Holland when he was still in Ireland.
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 lodgement bag beside the bed ready to bring to the bank the next morning. The next day he had gone off to work and had not spoken to Mrs Walsh all day. He had tried to phone her at around 4.00 but was unconcerned when he failed to contact her, as she often didn't answer the phone when she was driving.
When she did not return home as usual the family began to worry. At about 7pm Mr Walsh went to see a local garda to report his wife missing.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the court that Mrs Walsh died from severe head injuries caused by multiple blows with a blunt object. Dr Cassidy said that Mrs Walsh sustained nine separate injuries from a thin, heavy weapon about one inch in diameter similar in shape to a poker. Mrs Walsh's fully clothed body was found in the boot of her car on August 31st 2004.