'Middle man' in Irene White murder to argue he was suffering 'mental breakdown' when he pleaded guilty

Niall Power, aged 51 and formerly of Riverstown, County Louth, is pursuing an appeal of his murder conviction in connection with the death of Dundalk woman Irene White on 6 April 2005. Power was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2019 after pleading guilty to his role as an intermediary in arranging the killing. He has now instructed legal representatives to challenge the conviction on the basis that he was experiencing significant mental health difficulties at the time he entered his guilty plea. At a hearing before the Court of Appeal on Friday last, Mr Justice John Edwards granted legal aid to support Power's appeal and adjourned proceedings to 17 January to permit the filing of formal documentation for an Enlargement of Time application. Because the ordinary window for appealing has closed, Power must first satisfy the court that circumstances warrant an extension before the substantive question of whether his plea should be set aside can be addressed. Power's attempt to advance his case follows a protracted period without legal representation. In June 2024, he had reported to the court that he had approached approximately twenty to thirty solicitors without success in securing representation, having already spent two and a half years without counsel. Anthony Lambe, of Castleblayney, County Monaghan, was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2018 after pleading guilty to carrying out the fatal stabbing. Both men have maintained they were acting on instructions from a third party. Victim impact statements delivered at Power's sentencing in 2019 included remarks from Irene White's terminally ill sister, whose family has called for prosecution of the alleged mastermind behind the murder. The case has remained notable in Monaghan and Louth for the years that elapsed between the killing and the eventual convictions of both men.