In 1983, three women died in an horrific house fire at Blackpitts in Dublin. It would emerge that one of them – 34 year old Dolores Lynch – had been targeted by a violent and vengeful pimp. John Cullen was alleged to have held a grudge against the former sex worker for pursuing charges against him for an assault seven years before.

In the course of getting justice for Dolores Lynch, there would be shocking revelations about what went on in Dublin City under the cover of darkness.

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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/

Sources:

“Three women die in house fire” in The Irish Times (17 January 1983) p. 1.   Paul Murray, “Prostitutes’ rights activists dies” in The Irish Times (21 January 1983) p. 11.  

“Man charged with woman’s murder” in The Irish Times (28 January 1983) p. 11.   

“Murder charge man remanded” in The Irish Times (4 February 1983) p. 4.   

“Man cleared fo attempting to pervert justice” in The Irish Times (23 June 1983) p. 13. 

“Man charged with ‘revenge’ fire killing” in The Irish Times (5 October 1983) p. 13.   

“Accused man glad woman died in fire, court told” in The Irish Times (6 October 1983) p. 13  

“Garda tells court accused man denied intent to kill” in The Irish Times (7 October 1983) p. 13   

“Juror’s illness stops Dublin firebomb trial” in The Irish Times (8 October 1983) p. 1.

“Juror’s illness stops trial” in The Irish Times (8 October 1983) p. 7.   

“Fire death trial starts next month” in The Irish Times (27 October 1983) p. 13.   

“Arson Death revenge alleged” in The Irish Times (8 November 1983) p. 13.   

“Woman says she watched lover set house alight” in The Irish Times (9 November 1983) p. 11.  

“Former prostitute met pope, trial told” in The Irish Times (10 November 1983) p. 11.  

“Legal moves in murder trial” in The Irish Times (11 November 1983)  p. 13 

“Legal pleas in murder trial” in The Irish Times (12 November 1983) p. 8.  

“Legal argument continues in trial” in The Irish Times (15 November 1983) p. 11

“Man guilty of woman’s murder” in The Irish Times  (17 November 1983) p. 1.  

“Man found guilty of murder of Dolores Lynch” in The Irish Times (17 November 1983) p. 13.

Paul Murray, “Activist made waves – and enemies” in The Irish Times (18 November 1983) p. 11.

“Man gets life sentence fo murder of Dolores Lynch” in The Irish Times (18 November 1983) p. 11. 

“Convicted killer granted order against Magill” in The Irish Times (30 November 1983) p. 8.    

“Judgment on ‘Magill’ injunction is reserved” in The Irish Times (1 December 1983) p. 10.  

“’Magill’ forbidden to publish Cullen article” in The Irish Times (3 December 1983) p. 10.   

“Court order against ‘Magill’ is set aside” in The Irish Times (8 December 1983) p. 10.

“Court rejects killer’s appeal” in The Irish Times (12 March 1985) p. 10. 

June Levine, “A woman in Gangland” in Magill https://magill.ie/archive/woman-gangland (20 November 1983)  

Sarah Cadden, “Afraid of the past catching up” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/afraid-of-the-past-catching-up-26425649.html (24 February 2008)  

Ken Fox, “Triple killer now faces life behind bars” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/triple-killer-now-faces-life-behind-bars-26233439.html (19 July 2003) 

“Writer central to the women’s movement” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/writer-central-to-the-women-s-movement-1.898039 (18 October 2008)   

June Levine “Letters to the Editor: Prostitution and feminism” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/prostitution-and-feminism-1.1156064 (3 September 2004)   

Colm Tóibín, “A brush with the law” in The Dublin Review (Autumn 2007) https://thedublinreview.com/article/a-brush-with-the-law/