Former army sergeant John Crerar has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Kildare woman Phylis Murphy 23 years ago. He was found guilty earlier this evening by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Crerar, from Woodside Park Co Kildare, had denied the murder of Ms Murphy, who disappeared as she returned from a Christmas shopping trip.
The jury of six men and six women heard almost four weeks of evidence in the Central Criminal Court and had been considering its verdict since yesterday.
Phyllis Murphy disappeared on December 22nd 1979. Her body was found a month later, concealed by ferns near the Wicklow Gap.
Crucial to the conviction was the DNA evidence which matched John Crerar to a DNA profile identified from semen samples taken from Phyllis Murphy's body.
John Crerar's children and wife Carmel broke down sobbing when the verdict was announced. The family of Phyllis Murphy was also crying.
The guilty verdict was unanimous. Mr Justice Liam McKechnie imposed a mandatory life sentence.
