State gets appeal date for McAuley sentence

The State has been given a date for their appeal on the sentencing of garda killer Pearse McAuley, who attacked his then estranged wife in Christmas 2014.
The appeal, sought on grounds of leniency of sentence by the DPP, will be heard in the Central Criminal Courts of Justice in November.
In December of last year McAuley was sentenced to 12 years - the last four of which were suspended - for the December 2014 sustained knife attack on former Sinn Féin councillor Pauline Tully at her Kilnaleck home.
One of the convicted IRA killers of Detective Garda Gerry McCabe, McAuley stabbed her 13 times and broke four of her fingers.
McAuley (50), who is originally from Strabane, but with an address in Ballyconnell, faced a series of other charges, for which he was also sentenced, with all terms of imprisonment to run concurrently.
The eight-year sentence was back-dated to December 27, 2014, when he was first taken into custody and, at the time of his sentencing, with good behaviour, he could have been released in 2020.