Stephen Silver found guilty of capital murder of garda

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

Stephen Silver was found guilty of capital murder at the Central Criminal Court on 15 March 2023. The jury found him guilty of murdering Detective Garda Colm Horkan in the course of his duty.

Silver admitted shooting Horkan, but denied murder and had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The jury in his first trial could not agree on a verdict; in the retrial, it unanimously found him guilty after almost nine hours of deliberation.

The defence argued that a relapse of Silver’s bipolar affective disorder diminished his responsibility. The prosecution psychiatrist disputed that account, saying he found no positive evidence of a relapse at the time of the shooting.

Silver was due to be sentenced on 19 April.