A man (32) who bludgeoned his mother to death because he thought she was an imposter has been cleared of her murder by reason of insanity.

Niall Stapleton used the handle of a garden fork to kill Siobhan Stapleton (51) at their home at Glebe Lodge, Kilfane in Thomastown on May 25th last year.

The Central Criminal Court heard psychiatric evidence that the college graduate displayed active symptoms of schizophrenia.