Danny Keena Murder Trial verdict - Man strangled mother of children to death

A Westmeath man has been found guilty of murdering the mother of his children by ‘strangling the life out of her’ two months after she had left him.

Danny Keena of Empor, Ballynacargy was on trial at the Central Criminal Court, charged with the murder of 43-year-old Brigid Maguire on November 14, 2015; she and their two children had left him that September.

The 55-year-old farmer had pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to her manslaughter at her new home on Main Street, Ballynacargy. He claimed she had provoked him by telling him he was a bad father.

The jury reached its verdict majority verdict of 11 to one after four hours and 55 minutes of deliberations.