A woman who helped to dispose of her husband’s body in 1987 has been given a 18 month prison sentence.
Vera McGrath originally from Fordstown in Navan, Co. Meath, will not serve any of the sentence because of what was described in court as a “Get Out of Jail Free Card”.
At today’s sentence hearing, Mr Justice Paul Carney said he felt “physically ill” after hearing about how Mrs McGrath’s husband, Brian McGrath’s was murdered in 1987.
Mr McGrath’s murder was considered the first successful cold case murder conviction when his wife was found guilty over 20 years later.
Although, that original conviction was overturned on appeal last month, Mrs McGrath pleaded guilty to a charge of helping to dispose of her husbands body.
The court was told that it was understood that Mr McGrath had been beaten to death at the family home in Coole, Co. Westmeath sometime between March 16, 1987 and April 18, 1987.
Mrs McGrath’s former son-in-law Colin Pinder was convicted of his manslaughter in July 2010 just days before she was found guilty of murder.
The court was told that Mrs McGrath helped bury the body and dispose of his bones after setting them alight and crushing them.
Vera now a 65-year-old was given a 18-month sentence, this decision was described in court as a “Get Out of Jail Free Card”, because Mrs McGrath had spent time behind bars for the overturned murder conviction.