'I needed to be sure when Jack got out that he was going to be a better person'

Mum of one-punch victim reveals she met killer and felt his remorse

- SEAN MURPHY

THE mother of a man who was killed in an unprovoked one-punch attack has revealed she met his killer and felt his remorse.

Devastated Janet O'Brien's son Luke O'Brien O'Reilly died aged 20, in 2017, two weeks after he was struck in Dublin on Halloween night.

The killer Jack Hall Ellis, 26, who was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to his childhood pal's manslaughter, was released last year.

Janet met the killer as part of the Irish Probation Board's restorative justice programme and has spoken of it just weeks before Luke's sixth anniversary.

She yesterday revealed her reasons for meeting him and said she never wants her son's killer to forget the pain and horror he has caused.

Mum-of-three Janet, 53, said: "I got a call at 3am from Store Street Garda Station. They said Luke had been attacked and was going to Tallaght Hospital and then he was moved to Beaumont.