A MAN has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an Irish mother-of-three in her Co Louth home almost 13 years ago.
Anthony Lambe, 34 of Annadrumman, Castleblayney Co Monaghan, admitted killing Irene White, 43, in her home in April 2005.
Lambe, who was 21 at the time, admitted to her murder at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin earlier today.
According to RTÉ, the court heard Lambe had been asked by someone else to kill Ms White on behalf of another individual.
He was drinking heavily and addicted to drugs, and was extremely remorseful, the court was told.
Ms White had three children, aged 17, six and four, and had just done the school run when she was killed.
Her 79-year-old mother called to see her just before lunchtime on April 6 2005 and found her lying in a pool of blood.
Ms White had been stabbed 34 times.
The case was reviewed by the garda cold case review team and in 2013, gardaí received anonymous phone calls from a woman in Australia naming a "Mr Lambe" as the murderer.
When he was eventually interviewed, Lambe said he had been asked by an individual to kill Ms White on behalf of another person.
The court heard that he received a relatively small sum of money. He said he was very sorry when he was charged last year.
Detective Inspector Pat Marry said Lambe was in a very bad way at the time of the killing and was under pressure.
In a victim impact statement, Ms White's eldest daughter said her mother's murder had 'caused them pain, heartache and complete devastation.'
She said hopefully they could now start getting some closure and her mother could rest in peace.
Ms White's sister, Ann, said nothing would bring her sister back.
Lambe was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.
