A man and a woman were jailed for life last night after being convicted of the murder of the woman's former partner in Dublin in May 2000.
Jacqui Noble (38), Knowth Court and Paul Hopkins (24) Sillogue Road, Ballymun, Dublin had denied murdering Derek Benson (33) at his flat at Sandy Hill Avenue, Ballymun on May 13th, 2000.
After seven hours of deliberations at the Central Criminal Court, the jury of seven men and five women returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder. Mr Justice Henry Abbott imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
During the 30-day trial, the jury heard evidence of extreme physical, sexual and emotional abuse by the deceased against Jacqui Noble over a 14 year period.
However, after lengthy legal argument, trial judge Mr Justice Henry Abbott refused to allow the jury consider the defence of provocation.