Jury rejects mum killer's insanity plea

A JURY has unanimously convicted a man of murdering his 75-year-old mother, rejecting his claim that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

- BY EOIN REYNOLDS and ALISON O'RIORDAN

The jury accepted the prosecution's case that the cause of 55-year-old Billy Burns killing his mother Miriam Burns was not mental illness but his “long-term abuse of drugs and alcohol” and anger towards his mother.

The trial heard that Burns had been aggressive and violent towards his mother since he was a teenager and on one occasion broke his mother's jaw.