THE DEATH has taken place of Judge Miriam Reynolds, a member of the Circuit Court bench, following an illness. She was 52.
Her death comes less than two months after she sentenced a Co Roscommon mother to seven years in prison for incest, sexual assault, ill-treatment and neglect of her children, the maximum sentence available to her. She also placed the woman on the sex offenders register.
Judge Reynolds was appointed a judge of the Circuit Court in November 2002. Although not assigned to any specific circuit, she regularly sat on midlands and northern circuits.
Before her appointment as a judge she had a substantial criminal practice, practising as a senior counsel in the Central Criminal Court, which hears murder and rape trials. She also appeared for clients regularly in the Court of Criminal Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Judge Reynolds was born in England, the eldest child of Irish parents, Mary Reynolds (née Donnelly), of Mohill, Co Leitrim, and Glaslough, Co Monaghan, and of Gerard Reynolds, a building contractor from Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim. She had four brothers: Kevin, Gerard, Barry and Kieron.
She was educated in England and at the St Louis convent, Monaghan. She graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Civil Law degree (BCL) in 1979, and was admitted to the degree of Barrister at Law (BL) in the Kings Inns in 1981.
She was called to the Bar in 1981 and practised on the northern circuit from 1982 to 1998, acting as the State prosecutor for Co Donegal from 1990 to 1998.
In 1993 she was admitted to the Northern Ireland Bar and to the degree of Barrister of Law, Northern Ireland. In 1998 she was called to the Inner Bar.
She was elected a member of the Bar Council for 1999-2000 and was twice elected as the honorary secretary of the council in 2001 and 2002. She also served as chairwoman of the Irish Women Lawyers Association.
She married Frank Buckley and had two sons, Darragh and Cillian. They lived in Mount Merrion, Dublin.