Anne Shortall looked up price of abortion four days before she was killed, trial hears
The trial of a Wicklow man accused of murdering a woman in 2015 has heard she googled the price of an abortion just days before she was killed.
Roy Webster of Ashbree in Ashford claims Anne Shortall was blackmailing him and threatening to tell his wife about their affair.
However the post-mortem did not find any evidence of a recent pregnancy.
In the early hours of March 25, 2015, Ms Shortall rang the landline of the home Webster shared with his wife and two children.
The court heard there were several more phone calls and text messages exchanged between them in the nine days that followed.
At 3.47pm on Good Friday, he texted her to to meet “outside the Leitrim?” in Wicklow town.
She replied to say she was on her way.
He later told Gardaí she claimed she was having his baby and was threatening to tell his wife if he didn't give her £6,500 for an abortion.
Four days beforehand, the court heard she googled Webster’s business as well as abortion-related websites.
The prosecution will conclude its case against the 40-year-old on Monday.
