A Dublin man has been found guilty of killing his mother and dismembering her body before burying her in a shallow grave at a beauty spot in Edinburgh.
James Seamus Dunleavy (40) had pleaded not guilty to the murder which happened sometime in April of last year when Philomena Dunleavy (66) visited him at his home in Scotland.
A harrowing eight day trial heard evidence suggesting she still have been alive, but unconscious, when her killer began to hack off her legs with knife and saw.
A jury at the High Court in Edinburgh convicted him by majority of a reduced charge of culpable homicide. They also found him guilty of the attempted cover-up.
He has been ordered to remain under the assessment of psychiatrists and is due back in court in April when the judge will decide if he can be sentenced.
'Done something I am not proud of'
Evidence was given at the High Court there on Tuesday that James Dunleavy told a workmate he was going away and that he had done something he was not proud of.
Matthew Hagan (26) told the Edinburgh Court that while working with James Dunleavy as a labourer on the tram project in the city, he said he had done something bad, something he was ashamed of but would not reveal what it was.
Under cross-examination Mr. Hagan said Dunleavy was someone who would "talk a lot of nonsense" and agreed it was not unusual for him to say things which did not make sense.
A second charge accused Dunleavy of pretending Philomena was unwell and had returned to her home in Marino in Dublin. The charge further alleged that Dunleavy put his mother's severed torso into a suitcase and buried her at Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh.
Prosecutors also claimed that Dunleavy vacuumed and washed his flat to remove blood stains and torched a bed and mattress.
Mrs. Dunleavy had left her Dublin home in early April last year and arrived in Scotland on April 24th to visit her eldest son James.
It was more than a month before her remains were unearthed, just a few minutes walk away from her son's address.
Pictured above: Philomena Dunleavy
