GALWAY WOMAN SENTENCED FOR PENSIONER MURDER

Date Published: 28-Oct-2011

45 year old Galway native Karen Walsh of Dublin Road, Newry has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years for murdering her next-door neighbour Maire Rankin.

The pharmacist was found guilty earlier this month of murdering 81 year old Maire Rankin at her home in County Down in the early hours of Christmas Day 2008.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Belfast Crown Court today imposed the minimum term of 20 years .

The judge described the attack as sustained and brutal on an elderly, defenceless and frail woman.