The jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of Vera McGrath who is accused of murdering her husband Brian at their Westmeath home 23 years ago.

The 61 year old mother of four's co-accused and former son-in-law Colin Pinder also denies the murder but admits manslaughter at Lower Coole in March or April 1987.

It's alleged by the prosecution that Colin Pinder and Vera McGrath made a tacit agreement to kill her husband Brian in what's described as a joint enterprise.

Their chief witness is Vera's daughter Veronica who claims to have seen them attack her father with a spanner, slash hook and lump hammer before burying him in a shallow grave at Lower Coole.

The jury has been told to question the reliability of her evidence because she is an accomplice witness who admits helping to clean up in the aftermath of her father's death

It took the judge almost four days to summarise the evidence and give legal directions to the eleven jurors who have now begun deliberating on the verdicts