In 1976, there was a crime spree in Ireland. Houses and caravans were burgled, cars were stolen, and then two women went missing. Elizabeth Plunkett disappeared in Brittas Bay in Wicklow, and a month later, across the country, Mary Duffy went missing without a trace.
The gardai discovered that all these crimes were related, and had been committed by two men who had only arrived into the country a year before from England, where they were wanted in relation to a number of sexual assaults.
John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans would go on to be some of the longest serving prisoners in Ireland.
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Theme Music:
Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
“BossaBossa” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Sources:
Tom Connolly, Detective: A life upholding the law (Dublin: O’Brien Press, 2015) Purchase here
Stephen Rae, Killers: Murders in Ireland (Dublin: Blackwater Press, 1998) Purchase here
Crimes that Shook Ireland: Part One: Serial Killers (TV3, 2012) here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6zu3ij
Crimes that Shook Ireland: Part Two: A Trail of Bloodshed (TV3, 2012) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LcwspG3O20&list=PLdWT38WOXNebh2AJOBn2Ew-tjMgtnC_0n&index=6&t=0s
People v Shaw [1982] IR 1
Christina Finn, “When life means life: ‘God help me. The Devil made me do it” from TheJournal.ie https://www.thejournal.ie/irelands-longest-serving-prisoners-2542447-Jan2016/ (17 January 2016)
Conor Lally, “English duo were State’s first serial killers” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/english-duo-were-state-s-first-serial-killers-1.1167586 (23 November 2004)
Ruadhri Giblin, “State’s longest serving prisoner continued legal bid for temporary release” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/state-s-longest-serving-prisoner-continues-legal-bid-for-temporary-release-1.3782676 (5 February 2019)
Gareth Naughton, “ Serial Killer Geoffrey Evans who planned a murder a week died of infection” in The Belfast Telegraph https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/serial-killer-geoffrey-evans-who-planned-murder-a-week-died-of-infection-29396613.html (5 July 2013)
Noel Baker, “Death of an ‘abomination’” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/icrime/death-of-an-abomination-194707.html (22 May 2012)