A Co. Clare man will continue serving out a life sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction for the murder of his neighbour.

Brendan O'Sullivan shot Leslie Kenny in the garden of his home at O'Gorman Street in Kilrush on July 29th, 2009.

At the nub of this appeal was the contention that the judge at Mr. O'Sullivan's murder trial did not properly explain to the jury when verdicts of manslaughter or self-defence should be returned.

Today the Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that the directions given by the trial judge on these defences were adequate and that there was no miscarriage of justice.

It has said 'the outstanding fact is that this was a case of an unarmed man being shot four times with a shotgun'.

The 28-year-old did not attend court today. He was jailed for life in 2010 for killing 27-year-old Leslie Kenny with a double-barrelled shotgun.

The court heard Brendan O'Sullivan’s neighbour had 82 previous convictions and had made threats to slit the throats of his daughters, shoot down his back door, and put petrol in his letterbox.