We just existed while the person responsible for our dear mother's death lived their life never showing an ounce of remorse..

Family of mum sexually assaulted & killed get justice

- ALISON O'RIORDAN

COLD case killer Noel Long lived without "an ounce of remorse" for the murder and sexual assault of a woman 42 years ago, her family said yesterday.

The serial offender, 74, whose prosecution for murder was the oldest in Irish judicial history, was convicted over the brutal slaying of vulnerable Nora Sheehan who was 54.

Her naked and bruised body was found by forestry workers at The Viewing Point, Shippool Woods in Cork six days after she went missing in June 1981.

Long, who was charged with the murder a month after her death before it was dropped, was handed a mandatory life sentence.

After the jury returned their unanimous verdict at the Central Criminal Court, Mrs Sheehan's family said: "We hope you are at peace now mum.

"We never gave up hoping that one day we would get justice for you and we hope we have done you proud." Katie Sheehan said her grandmother's life was "taken from her in the cruellest way imaginable" and it was hard to convey in words "the hurt we have carried over four decades".

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said: "Sometimes the family of the victim feels the focus is not as central as they think it should be, but of course it is all about the victim and how Nora Sheehan came to meet her death."

The court heard Long has 31 convictions for offences including common assault, burglary that span 50 years.

Detective Inspector Eamonn Brady told prosecutor Brendan Grehan, Long, who had became a suspect and was arrested in relation to another matter on June 16, 1981 and questioned over the course of a number of days and subsequently on July 6, 1981.

As a result of the directions of the then DPP Eamonn Barnes, he was charged with her murder on July 7, 1981 but that was withdrawn four months later.

Mr Grehan said due to a change in the science of DNA Long was charged again with the murder of Mrs Sheehan on June 28, last year.