Niall Power jailed for life for murdering Irene White in Dundalk

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

Niall Power was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of Irene White in Dundalk. He pleaded guilty to murdering Ms White at her home at Ice House, Demesne Road. The proceedings were reported on 8 July 2019.

Ms White was found dead in her kitchen on 6 April 2005. A post-mortem showed she had been stabbed 34 times.

Power was described in court as the middle man in arranging the murder. He told gardaí that another man had repeatedly pressured him to have Ms White killed. Power said he passed the request to Anthony Lambe, reported back to the first man and did not pull out because the plan had gone too far and he was under pressure. He accepted that he was complicit in the murder.

The court heard that Power had no previous convictions. Gardaí agreed that he was visibly distressed and genuinely contrite when he came forward, and that he said he had been afraid to approach them because he feared the first man.

Mr Justice Michael White imposed the mandatory life sentence. Power was the second person jailed for the murder. Lambe, who carried out the killing, had pleaded guilty and was jailed for life in 2018.