Judgment reserved as Noel Long appeals murder conviction

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

Judgment was reserved in the Court of Appeal on Noel Long’s challenge to his conviction for murdering Nora Sheehan. Mr Justice John Edwards was presiding over the three-judge court. The proceedings were reported on 19 February 2026.

Long had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mrs Sheehan between June 6 and June 12, 1981, at an unknown location within the State. A jury unanimously convicted him in August 2023, after a trial that began in July 2023, and he was jailed for life. The report said Mrs Sheehan’s naked and bruised body was found in Shippool Woods, Co Cork, on 12 June 1981, six days after she went missing.

Long’s barristers argued that the prosecution had not proved he did more than assault Mrs Sheehan with slaps and punches to the head and face, and that the evidence did not establish an intention to murder. They also argued that DNA evidence should not have gone before the jury, that there had been prejudicial delay, and that Mr Justice Paul McDermott had misdirected the jury on serious injury, causation and intention. The trial had heard that a partial DNA profile from semen found in Mrs Sheehan’s body matched DNA recovered from clothing taken from Long in 2021.

The State disputed the appeal arguments. Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC said the possibility of a heart attack was speculative and that a doctor had found no evidence of it. He said the jury had to consider the injuries in a circumstantial case without a cause of death. The source reports no appeal judgment beyond Mr Justice Edwards saying that judgment would be reserved.