On the night of the 11th Nov, 2003, Patricia Conroy frantically searched the small midlands town of Mountmellick for her 14 year old son Darragh. He wasn’t answering the new mobile phone he’d just received and he hadn’t come home when expected.
Ms Conroy had no idea that hours earlier, Darragh had crossed paths with a schoolmate – 16 year old Darren Goodwin – and her son would not be coming home.
This episode was researched and written by Aileen Spearin.
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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:
Bernie O’Toole and Michael Lavery, “Boy is hammered to death for his phone”, Evening Herald, (November 12th 2003)
Melanie Finn, “Horrified locals want to know why”, Irish Independent, (November 13th 2003)
John Breslin and Charlie Keegan, “15 year old charged in relation to boy’s death”, Irish Examiner, (November 13th 2003)
Neans McSweeney, “I can’t remember a tougher mass to prepare”, Irish Examiner, (November 14th 2003)
“A town in mourning”, The Laois Nationalist, (November 21st 2003)
Joe Barrett, “Outpouring of grief as Darragh is laid to rest”, Laois Nationalist, (November 21st 2003)
Grace Halford, “Poignant farewell to Dar”, Leinster Express, (November 22nd 2003)
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Siobhan Gaffney, “Teen denies hammering friend to death over mobile”, Irish Examiner, (July 20th 2004)
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Siobhan Gaffney, “The court report”, Irish Examiner, (October 13th 2004)
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“Cruel and senseless”, Irish Examiner, (October 16th 2004)
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Grainne Cunningham, “Killing just for kicks”, Irish Independent, (October 16th 2004)
Liam Collins, “Vicious killer shocks court with stark lack of remorse”, Irish Independent, (October 17th 2004)
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“Judgement is reserved in mobile phone killer’s appeal on life term”, Irish Independent, (March 1st 2005)
“Teenage killer’s appeal is denied”, Irish Independent, (May 28th 2005)
Natasha Reid, “Child killer who bludgeoned a Dublin schoolboy to death will be back on the streets in less than two years”, Irish Daily Mirror, (September 11th 2014)
Natasha Reid, “Hammer killer jailed for life to be freed”, Irish Examiner, (September 12th 2014)
Conor Feehan, “Patricia Conroy: ‘The young man who killed my son is back on the streets and I’m worried’”, Irish Independent, (July 1st 2016)
Conor Feehan, “’I can relax now and not be nervous that I would see him’ – mum after son’s killer banned from town”, Evening Herald, (May 13th 2017)
Neil Fetherstonhaugh, “Child killer Darren Goodwin dies six years after early release for murder of boy with hammer”, Sunday World, (August 9th 2022)