John Joseph Malone pleads not guilty to murder

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

John Joseph Malone has pleaded not guilty to murder at the Central Criminal Court. The charge concerns the death of Ann ‘Nancy’ Smyth on 11 September 1987. The proceedings were reported on 11 April 2017.

The report said Ms Smyth was strangled before her house on Wolfe Tone Street in Kilkenny City was set on fire. Prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane SC said Mr Malone had confessed to fellow church members that he killed her.

Defence counsel Colman Cody SC disputed the alleged confessions, saying none of those who claimed to have heard them made official statements to gardaí until 2012. He suggested the confessions were never made and said there was no forensic evidence linking Mr Malone to the scene or the body.

The report said Justice Patrick McCarthy would charge the jury on Wednesday. It recorded no verdict.