The trial of a Kilkenny man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend has heard he was constantly paranoid that she was cheating on him during their relationship.

Shane Smyth of McGuinness House, Evans Lane has pleaded NOT guilty to the murder of 26-year-old Mairead Moran by reason of insanity.

She was stabbed to death just before finishing her shift at a Holland & Barrett shop in Kilkenny’s Market Cross Shopping Centre in May 2014.

Mr. Smyth suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and believed she was working for a company who kidnapped him and stole his blood.