Vera McGrath sentenced for helping dispose of husband's body

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

Vera McGrath, 65, received 18 months in prison at the Central Criminal Court but would serve no further time, having already served part of a life sentence for a murder conviction overturned on appeal. The proceedings were reported on 5 June 2014.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said her previous time in custody meant she would not remain in prison. She had already spent two years, seven months and 16 days in jail. She was sent to prison for processing on 5 June 2014, with immediate release expected.

Vera McGrath pleaded guilty to a new charge of being an accessory after the fact to the killing. The State accepted her plea. The court was told that materially assisting after the killing carried a maximum prison term of two years.

Her life sentence for her husband's murder had been imposed in 2010. The Court of Criminal Appeal subsequently quashed the conviction after finding that prejudicial evidence had been used at trial, and ordered a retrial. The report said she had been freed the previous year following that decision. Colin Pinder, tried alongside her, received nine years for manslaughter.

Brian McGrath was fatally beaten at the family home in Coole, Westmeath, in March 1986, the report said. The court heard that his son-in-law Colin Pinder killed him and that Colin Pinder and Vera McGrath burned and buried his remains. Mr Justice Paul Carney referred separately to the body's disposal in 1987.

The court was told that prosecution had only become possible following advances in DNA identification. Defence counsel Patrick Gageby disputed the need to wait for those developments. He said Vera McGrath had consistently acknowledged her involvement and had never challenged the identification of the remains as her husband's. He also said she had no previous convictions and had earlier been told that the garda investigation was over and no prosecution would follow.