Freya McClements

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Freya McClements

Double murderer Hazel Stewart was under the coercive control of her then lover, Colin Howell, when the couple killed her husband and his wife, the Court of Appeal has been told. Judgment was reserved on whether to grant Stewart leave to appeal her sentence of a minimum of 18 years in prison. Stewart, a 62-year-old former Sunday school teacher, and her former lover, dentist Howell, were convicted in 2011 of the murders of their spouses, Trevor Buchanan (32) and Lesley Howell (31).

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Freya McClements

For businessman Dermot Johnson, Brexit has meant fewer goods but a lot more paperwork. Take organic products, he says: “We brought in – we still do bring in – some organic goods, but there’s a whole form-filling and paperwork you have to do now to send organic goods across the sea [from Britain to Northern Ireland].

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Freya McClements

A “considerable body of material” has not been shared with the Omagh bombing inquiry due to applications by the UK government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to redact information from documents, a hearing has been told. The inquiry’s lawyer Paul Greaney KC said there was a “brake” on disclosure due to submissions, and that even at the “early stage” of March this year “as many as 80 documents were having to be withheld from disclosure”.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Freya McClements

The announcement of a commitment by the EU and UK to work towards a deal which would remove most checks on agri-food products moving between Britain and the North has been hailed as “a good day for Northern Ireland.” Speaking following the announcement by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday, the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, said it was “very important that the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland be taken into...

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Freya McClements

Emmanuel Familola was a “true ambassador of hope” who had a “serene magnetism” which “crossed social, ethnic and cultural boundaries” to “touch every heart”, mourners at his funeral have been told. Parish priest Father Francis Bradley paid tribute to the 16-year-old’s “attractive personality” and the “plethora of gifts and talents he possessed, and every one of them carried with gentle ease and good humour”.