A court in the Irish Republic has sentenced a thirty-four year-old Dublin man Paul Ward to life imprisonment for the murder of the crime journalist, Veronica Guerin.

Miss Guerin was shot dead two years ago by a passenger on a motorcycle as she sat in her car at traffic lights.

The court heard her murder was planned and carried out by a drugs gang that imported hundreds of kilogrammes of cannabis, as well as guns and ammunition, into Dublin.

Lawyers said Miss Guerin was killed after she filed assault charges against the leader of the gang.