Two men sentenced to life for Kieran Quilligan murder

Kieran Quilligan, 47, had been missing from Cork for five months when his remains were found

Two men have been sentenced to life for the murder of Kieran Quilligan, whose skeletal remains were found in a carrier bag in a County Cork ravine.

The 47-year-old was last seen alive on 1 September 2023. He had been missing for five months when his remains were found by gardaí (Irish police).

A post-mortem examination was unable to identify a cause of death but a pathologist established that he had been attacked with a hammer-like item and suffered multiple fractures.

Niall Long, 33, of St Michael's Close in Mahon in Cork and Luke Taylor, 27, of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock in Cork were both found guilty of Mr Quilligan's murder last week.

'Ambushed'

A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork had been told Mr Quilligan was lured to a laneway near Cork city centre before he was ambushed and beaten to death.

In his closing speech to the jury, prosecution senior counsel Donal O'Sullivan said that Taylor brought him to a laneway at St Finbarr's Place in Cork city on 1 September 2023 where he and Long "ambushed" him.

Mr Quilligan was alleged to have stolen drugs and cash from Long earlier in the day.

The court was told that gardaí undertook extensive searches for Mr Quilligan in east Cork, after CCTV tracked them travelling there immediately after he disappeared.

His skeletal remains were found five months later by a cadaver dog, as part of a garda search.

'Loving son, brother and uncle'

Mr Quilligan's father, Stephen, said in a victim impact statement on Wednesday that his family were shocked and angry at the way their son died and by the way Niall Long and Luke Taylor could "pretend like nothing happened".

"Kieran was a loving son, brother and uncle. He is sadly missed by all of us and our lives will never be the same without him."

Sentencing both men to life in prison, Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said Mr Quilligan's life had been taken in most egregious circumstances.

She described the garda investigation as exemplary, and said Niall Long and Luke Taylor might never have been identified were it not for the huge volume of work on the case carried out by detectives.

Both men indicated to the court through their counsel that they intend to appeal.