A man has been handed a life sentence for the capital murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan.

Stephen Silver, of Foxford, County Mayo, shot the detective eleven times during an attempted arrest in Castlerea, Co Roscommon in June 2020.

On the night of the 17th of June 2020, Detective Garda Colm Horkan moved to arrest Stephen Silver near Main Street in Castlerea, County Roscommon.

A struggle developed, during which Silver disarmed the detective and used his standard issue firearm to shoot him eleven times.

He claimed he was suffering a relapse of a mental disorder at the time, but he was convicted of capital murder, by unanimous verdict.

In his victim impact statement, Colm Horkan’s father, Marty, described his son as “reliable and honest” and he said he was proud of him, especially when he heard stories of how he helped people in a “quiet and unassuming way.”

Colm’s sister, Deirdre, described him as a “real gent” who was the “apple of everyone’s eye.”

She said the best part of her died on the street with her brother that night.

Because he killed a garda in the course of his duties, Stephen Silver will have to spend at least forty years behind bars.