Man jailed for role in murder

A man who organised the contract killing of his 32-year-old wife so he could take up with her niece has been jailed for life.

A man who organised the contract killing of his 32-year-old wife so he could take up with her niece has been jailed for life.

Joe Moran, a 4O-year-old roofer from Boyle O'Reilly Terrace in Dundalk, talked two friends into killing his wife, Rose, promising them between £3,000 and £6,000 for the murder.

Initially Moran claimed his wife was killed by mistake when she disturbed his friends who were burgling the house as "an insurance job".

Finally he admitted he had ordered the murder after being pestered into it by his then lover, Ms Anita McKeown, who at one stage paid him £1,000 to get the job done.

READ MORE

Moran showed no emotion as a Belfast Crown Court judge, Lord Justice Nicholson, also jailed him for 14 years for plotting the murder with his former lover.

She is now living in south Down after serving half of an eight-year sentence for conspiring with Moran to have her aunt murdered.