Life in jail for murdering mum after AA meeting
Samantha Walsh AN alcoholic has been caged for life for the murder of a young mother of four he met in an addiction treatment centre.
Samantha Walsh had just returned home from an AA meeting and had no booze in her system when Danny Whelan beat her to death while high on drugs.
Whelan, 31, of no fixed abode but originally from Thurles, was due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court this week but he pleaded guilty to murder just before the trial was about to start.
In a moving victim impact statement Samantha’s grieving brother Raymond Walsh recalled his loving sister.
He said: “You have taken from the whole world a girl, who genuinely believed in caring, sharing and loving and never asked for anything in return.
“We think about her every day and miss her beyond belief.”
A garda told the court the pair met at Cuan Mhuire, an addiction treatment centre, in Bruree, Co Limerick, in 2016.
They moved, as squatters, into a Waterford apartment – the murder scene – a week before the killing in April last year.
There was evidence from their neighbours they had a volatile relationship, with shouting and screaming heard coming from their room. Robbie and David chatting in LA
Coco, born by surrogate last month, is his third child with wife Ayda, also an X Factor judge. Teddy, five, and Charlie, three, already love their little sister to bits.
Speaking in Los Angeles, Robbie, 44, said: “She’s the most chilled baby that we’ve ever had out of all three of them.”
He said the difference between being a first-time parent to a third-time parent was “interesting”.
Robbie said: “The first child, when they go to sleep, if you hear something two miles away you wanna send somebody two miles away to tell them to shut up.
“Then on the third one, you know, the kids are fighting, the TV’S on and baby stays asleep and I think because we’re more chilled, she’s more chilled.”
Asked what daughter Teddy and son Charlie think of Coco, he said: “There’s no jealousy, there’s just lots of love. Teddy wants to feed her and cuddle her all the time.”
Robbie and Ayda, 39, heralded Coco’s arrival by posting a photo of the family’s hands on Instagram.
Robbie is in LA with his X Factor groups to film Judges’ Houses at his home, with David Walliams a guest judge. Robbie said he and Ayda are waiting for Coco to become a “nightmare”.
But he said: “So far, she hasn’t done anything other than sleep, drink and occasionally smile and then get confused. “Because she doesn’t know what the smile is, but that’s all she’s up to right now is being adorable and not giving us any hassle whatsoever.”
Asked if he would let his kids chase fame like his X Factor hopefuls, he said: “It depends what age they would be and if I was a judge.”
He spoke of a Take That reunion, saying nothing was planned, but “I’d love to do something with the boys”. What he really wants is to stay with X Factor. He said: “I’d love to do next year.” ■ The X Factor, tonight, 8.35pm, Virgin One. Judges’ Houses starts tomorrow at 8pm.
So far she doesn’t do anything but sleep, drink and smile