A Dublin man who is trying to withdraw his guilty murder plea has today claimed that he just wanted to get out of court because he was having panic attacks.

Kenneth Cummins of Ringsend Park, Dublin 4 initially denied beating Thomas Horan to death in January 2014, but changed his plea at the last minute.

Mr Cummins’ sister Sabrina is serving a life sentence for murdering Thomas Horan at a senior citizens’ complex in Dublin two years ago.

Mr Cummins, who was also on trial for murder, changed his plea to guilty just before the jury was sent out, but later applied to have it withdrawn.

Today, his barrister said he was eager to change his plea at the time because he was suffering from panic attacks and claimed he was not getting adequate medical attention while in custody.

When Mr Justice Tony Hunt asked him to consider sleeping on it, he said he didn’t care anymore and just wanted to focus on getting out of court so he could relax.

He later said he could hear the dead man’s voice in his cell and had no memory of changing his plea.

MrJustice Hunt has listened to evidence from a forensic psychologist who has since accessed Mr Cummins and the hearing is due to resume next week.