Ryan Kearney sentenced to 10 years, with final year suspended, for manslaughter

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

Ryan Kearney was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the final year suspended for three years, after he was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of Jeffrey Jackson. The sentence was backdated to 8 February 2024, when Kearney went into custody.

At the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Paul Burns set a headline sentence of 12 years and six months. He said Kearney had used extreme and sustained violence, and that Jackson’s ability to defend himself was limited by intoxication. The judge said the sentencing approach would treat the case as self defence using excessive force. He also cited Kearney’s failure to contact emergency services, an attempted clean-up and misleading accounts to gardaí. In mitigation, the judge noted Kearney had offered a manslaughter plea before trial, had a non-violent offending history, alcohol dependency and had expressed remorse in a letter.