Father-of-four in court over 2005 murder of mum Irene White (43)

Niall Power (45), a married father-of-four, from Gyles Quay in Dundalk, Co Louth, was brought before the town's District Court yesterday morning having been arrested at Dundalk Garda Station the previous night.

Remanded

Detective Sergeant Mick Sheridan told judge John Coughlan that he charged Mr Power at 11.07pm and that he had made no reply.

Mr Power, dressed in dark clothing and wearing glasses, was remanded in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court via video link on February 8. He was granted free legal aid.

On Monday, another man, Anthony Lambe (34), from Annadrumman, Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, was sentenced to life for murder for the same crime.

He pleaded guilty at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.

It was reported that Lambe was hired to commit the killing for just €1,000.

Members of Irene White's family were present in the courtroom yesterday while Mr Power was being charged.

While her husband Alan White was in court on Monday to see Lambe being sentenced, he was not present in Dundalk courthouse while Mr Power was charged. Ms White was stabbed to death at her two-storey detached home, known as the Ice House, in Dundalk on April 6, 2005. She was 43.

The attack took place in the kitchen of her home at Ice House Hill, Demesne Road, as she tidied up the kitchen after breakfast.

She had earlier dropped off her three children at their schools.

Gardai quickly established nothing had been stolen and ruled out the theory that the killer might have been a burglar who had been disturbed by Ms White.

Body

Her body was found on the kitchen floor by her mother, Maureen McBride, who lived in a mobile home in the garden and regularly called in to her daughter after breakfast for a cup of tea.

Ms McBride died the following year on what would have been Ms White's birthday.