'I didn't think about the kids .. I just worried about the murder' Sick killer only pleads guilty at last moment making family sit through hell.

Byline: EOIN REYNOLDS

THE murdering monster who killed a mum and her two little girls on Christmas Day will serve two life sentences behind bars.

Twisted thug Brian Hennessy, 23, of Windgap, Co Kilkenny, pleaded guilty yesterday at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin to three counts of murdering Sharon Whelan and her daughters Zsara, seven, and two-year-old Nadia.

Hennessy strangled the single mum before setting fire to the house, leaving the little girls to die in the blaze.

The postman, who turned up at Sharon's home drunk and looking for sex, claimed he had consensual intercourse with her.

But the court heard she suffered bruising and other injuries - leading gardai to quiz him over her rape as well.

The murderer claimed Sharon had told him she was going to tell his girlfriend what had happened - so he killed her and torched the house.

During an emotional hearing, Sharon's brother John read a victim impact statement to the court.

Speaking directly to Hennessy, who stared at the ground with his head in his hands throughout, he said: "It is obvious that human life meant nothing to you.

"An innocent mother and her two young daughters, their lives meant nothing to you.

"She was a wonderful mother. Like any single mother she had her tough times but those children wanted for nothing.

"Those three girls were the centre of everything for my parents and you, Brian Hennessy, took that away.

"Christmas for us is no more a time of celebration. It is a time of loss and grief."

"The pain is overwhelming. The murder of our girls has left a hole in our hearts."

Sharon lived in an isolated farmhouse in Roscon, near Hennessy's home in Windgap.

She knew Hennessy only as a passing acquaintance and they never had a relationship. The court heard how he went to the single mum's house late on Christmas Eve last year looking for sex.

He had been drinking for most of the day and witnesses said he was extremely drunk and had been seen staggering in the street.

Meanwhile, Sharon's little girls had gone to bed expecting Santa to leave a sack full of goodies during the night.

Their grandad Christopher called over once they were asleep with boxes full of presents which were laid under the tree.

But Santa never visited - the only visitor to the farmhouse that night was Hennessy.

The monster strangled Sharon to death before setting fire to the house in a bid to hide his crime.

The little girls suffocated in the choking fumes from the blaze. Members of Sharon's family wept in court yesterday as the prosecution went through the harrowing evidence of Sharon's final moments.

They sat silently as they heard a statement by Hennessy in which he tried to destroy the memory and good character of doting mum Sharon.

He claimed to gardai that he had consensual "gentle" sex with Sharon in the same room as her two children.

But a report by State Pathologist Marie Cassidy showed that Sharon had bruising which would be consistent with "violent sex".

The pathologist added that "she may have been strangled during a sexual act".

She also suffered bruising to her cheek, jaw, legs and torso and had died from strangulation.

After killing Sharon and setting fire to the house, Hennessy returned home.

While gardai and Sharon's family appealed for information about her violent death, he remained silent.

But when gardai started taking DNA samples from men in the area, the game was up for Hennessy.

He submitted to the test and was found to be an exact match for the DNAfound on Sharon's body.

When gardai arrested him, three weeks after the bodies were found, he still maintained his innocence.

He told them: "I didn't do it. I did sleep with her but I didn't kill her."

He claimed he called to her house and surprised her. She allowed him in, they talked for a short time and then had sex.

And at a later interview with Garda, Hennessy said he was about to leave when Sharon threatened to tell his girlfriend. He added: "I just strangled her with my two hands around her neck. I killed her in the living room.

"I sat on the bed, I didn't know what to do. I saw the kids. It made me more sad that I'd taken their mother away on Christmas."

When asked about setting fire to the house he replied: "I don't know why I did it.

"I never thought about the children. I was worried about the murder."

But even though Hennessy admitted all this to gardai during questioning, he maintained his innocence in court until yesterday.

Judge Barry White said he had added to the suffering of Sharon's family by waiting until "the 11th hour" to change his plea to guilty.

Imposing the mandatory three life sentences, Judge White said two of the sentences should run consecutively, and one concurrently meaning Hennessy should spend at least 30 years behind bars.

Sharon's brother John said: "We would also like to make it clear that we bear no animosity to the Hennessy family.

"They cannot be held responsible for the actions of one man.

"He and he alone must take responsibility for his actions."

Members of the Whelan family and the Hennessy family embraced outside the court following the case.

CAPTION(S):

FAMILY John Whelan, left, brother of murder victim Sharon, and her family leaving court yesterday EVIL Hennessy is taken to jail yesterday after verdict MURDER HOUSE Forensic experts at the scene in Windgap, Co Kilkenny, last Christmas where Sharon Whelan and her two little daughters were murdered VICTIM Sharon Whelan, 30, who was murdered last Christmas Day INNOCENTS Zsara Whelan, 7, left, & Nadia Whelan, two