The garda who shot psycho killer Mark Hennessy has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The detective, stationed in South County Dublin, shot Mark Hennessy in a car park in Cherrywood Industrial Estate.
The Irish Mirror revealed previously that the garda believed that Jastine Valdez was being stabbed to death in the car by the crazed knife man.
Now the DPP has examined the GSOC file and it has been found that the shooting was lawful - sources said it hinged on the garda's reasonable belief that he believed Hennessy was a risk.
A source said: "Gardai must have a reasonable belief that life is at risk - the independent investigation by GSOC established that this was the case.
"It brings to an end a portion of the investigation but the coroner's inquest will be the next phase.
"The garda involved has been informed."
Hennessy was shot two days after he snatched Filipino nurse while demented in a haze of cocaine to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, where he spotted Jastine.
He grabbed her and put her in a car - speeding down a busy motorway, spotted by motorists as the young Filipino woman frantically begged for help.
He strangled the 24-year-old accountancy student to death and dumped her body in a lonely country laneway.
The next day brave gardai confronted the man in Cherrywood Industrial Estate where he was shot dead by a garda who, allegedly, believed the lunatic was killing Jastine.
In the moments before he was confronted he called Nicole, his wife, and declared "I've done something awful".
Her body was discovered the next day.
Gardai are continuing to investigate the horror incident for a coroner's case and the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission are probing the shooting.
Full report to follow...
