Category: Child Victim

85 – Monster in the Garage: Patricia Murphy

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, Life Sentence, murder, murder for profit

In May of 1996, a woman’s body was found behind a skip in Glasnevin, Dublin city. Late on the 27th, Patricia Murphy had been reported missing from her nearby home.In order for her family to find justice, however, three of her young children would have to give evidence in court to put the perpetrator away – the monster in the garage.

This episode was researched and written by Eileen MacFarlene of the Crimelapse podcast.

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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:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/battered-wife-tried-to-conceal-the-marks-of-her-beatings-1.228260

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dismay-as-mother-of-four-is-murdered-1.53517

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/post-mortem-results-expected-today-on-murdered-mother-1.53444

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/gardai-in-search-for-murdered-woman-s-clothing-1.53824

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/over-100-pay-respects-to-murdered-woman-1.54177

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/search-continues-for-victim-s-clothing-1.54503

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/steady-progress-in-murder-inquiry-1.54943

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-held-on-murphy-death-is-released-1.56185

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/suspects-s-re-arrest-legal-in-murder-hunt-judge-rules-1.82796

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/husband-of-murder-victim-loses-high-court-challenge-on-detention-1.82700

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/it-was-a-year-when-ireland-seemed-a-more-dangerous-place-to-be-a-woman-1.119653

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/inquest-on-murdered-woman-is-adjourned-1.60981

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/husband-charged-with-murdering-mother-of-four-1.63472

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-on-wife-murder-charge-seeks-bail-1.63872

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-gets-bail-in-wife-murder-case-1.64697

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/life-policy-pay-out-to-accused-man-1.65092

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/wife-murder-trial-is-delayed-1.87746

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/further-remand-in-murder-case-1.105459

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-pleads-not-guilty-to-wife-murder-1.220470

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/delayed-murder-trial-to-open-1.221299

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/accused-man-s-children-to-tell-of-seeing-mother-s-body-1.221769

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/boy-5-tells-of-daddy-hammering-mammy-1.222333

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/children-tell-how-they-saw-mother-dead-in-garage-1.222264

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/neighbour-heard-high-pitched-screaming-1.223141

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/murder-trial-adjourned-for-discussions-1.223553

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dead-woman-s-mother-tells-of-phone-calls-1.223955

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/murphy-said-gardai-were-not-clever-enough-to-catch-him-out-1.225874

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/child-told-neighbour-mammy-was-asleep-1.226272

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/court-is-told-gardai-twisted-the-answers-of-murder-accused-1.226620

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/murder-accused-repeatedly-denies-having-killed-his-wife-1.227126

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/no-verdict-yet-in-dublin-murder-trial-1.227936

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/murder-trial-jury-takes-4-hours-to-deliver-a-unanimous-verdict-1.228263

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/three-children-witnessed-things-of-the-worst-of-night-terrors-1.228264

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-murderer-who-boxed-a-little-too-clever-by-half-1.228266

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/murder-case-agony-to-end-as-jury-decide-26166152.html

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https://dublin.ie/live/stories/conor-dodd-and-luke-portess-glasnevin-cemetery-and-museum/

83 – The Disappearance of Philip Cairns

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Cold Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, murder, unsolved

On Thursday the 26th of October 1986, Philip Cairns left his Ballyroan Road home after eating his lunch. He was headed back to school. But he never made it there. An intensive search followed, but there were no signs of the 13 year old.

A week later, his school bag was found in a nearby laneway, left there by persons unknown. Despite searches of the Rathfarnham area, including rivers, overgrown areas, large parklands and in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, there was no further sign of the school boy.

What became of Philip Cairns?

Continue reading “83 – The Disappearance of Philip Cairns” →

79 – Savage: The murder of James Healy

On By Hugh DevineIn Child Victim, Drug-related, Insanity Defence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, Mental Health, murder, Organised Crime

In February of 1996, 16 year old James Healy was found brutally beaten in a field near his home in Tralee. It wouldn’t be long before gardai zeroed in on their prime suspect – a 25 year old man diagnosed with anti social personality disorder.

In fact, police feared that he would one day murder.

Continue reading “79 – Savage: The murder of James Healy” →

66 – A Family Destroyed: The murder of Becky Watts

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Kidnapping, Kids who Kill, Life Sentence, Mental Health, murder, sex crimes, UK Crime, Women Who Kill

In February of 2015, 16 year old Becky Watts was reported missing by her family. A city – wide search ensued for the shy and socially anxious teenager.

But it would turn out that Becky, and the answers about what had become of her, would be found much closer to home than initially thought.

Continue reading “66 – A Family Destroyed: The murder of Becky Watts” →

59 – A Miscarriage of Justice: Nora Wall

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Human Rights, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, Life Sentence, Mental Health, sex crimes, Wrongly Accused

In 1996, former nun with the Sisters of Mercy Nora Wall was accused of rape by a girl who had formerly been in her care at a group home in Cappoquin, Co Waterford. Alongside her, a homeless man, Paul “Pablo” McCabe, who had once been resident at the same institution was also implicated.

The two went to trial, but the affair would later be declared a miscarriage of justice. 

Continue reading “59 – A Miscarriage of Justice: Nora Wall” →

58 – Murder by Mistake: Melanie McCarthy McNamara

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Drug-related, Human Rights, Irish Crime, Kids who Kill, Life Sentence, murder, Organised Crime

Gangs and drugs effect nearly every community. But in 2012, the Dublin suburb of Tallaght was shocked by the spillover of violence. 16 year old Melanie McCarthy McNamara was shot while she sat in the back of a parked car on a residential street. The gunman had shot from the back of a black SUV and sped off immediately. 

Two men alleged to be involved in drugs locally were identified by gardai, and after protracted court battles have found themselves in prison in relation to Melanie’s killing.

Continue reading “58 – Murder by Mistake: Melanie McCarthy McNamara” →

56 – Predator: The deaths of Patricia McGauley and Mary Cummins

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, murder, sadism, sex crimes

1990 was a decade of missing women. We remember the names of the unfound – Annie McCarrick, Eva Brennan, Jo Jo Dollard, Deirdre Jacob.

The names Patricia McGauley and Mary Cummins were once on that list. These two women disappeared from Dublin in the space of a year, and it wasn’t until a large scale review of cases of missing women from Dublin that a startling link was discovered between the two women. Both of them had unknowingly spent time with a predator: Michael Bambrick.

Continue reading “56 – Predator: The deaths of Patricia McGauley and Mary Cummins” →

55 – Murder by Arson: The McCann Family

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Child Victim, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, Life Sentence, Mental Health, murder, murder for profit

In the summer of 1992, the McCann Family endured a series of gas leaks in their home, and a spate of threatening phone calls. These nuisances escalated quickly though, and culminated in a raging fire in their Rathfarnham home. Esther McCann and her foster daughter, Jessica, died in the blaze.

Investigators ruled that this was a case of arson, and gardai quickly discovered that Frank McCann – the grieving father and husband – had some dark secrets.

Continue reading “55 – Murder by Arson: The McCann Family” →

54 – The Serial Child Murders of Robert Black

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, Life Sentence, Mental Health, murder, sadism, Scottish Crimes, Serial Killer, sex crimes, UK Crime, unsolved

A stranger snatching a child off the street is thankfully a rare thing. But throughout the 70s and 80s, in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, a number of young girls disappeared as if into thin air while walking alone. Most went missing in broad daylight. Some were found – their bodies dumped hundreds of miles from home. Some remain missing, presumed murdered.

In 1990, police in Scotland realised that many of these cases were linked. A delivery driver living in London was responsible for them all. Despite getting into trouble throughout his youth for sexually motivated attacks on younger children, Robert Black had been free to roam the country and target girls for decades.

*Episode Image: Jennifer Cardy (via The Irish Times Archive)

Continue reading “54 – The Serial Child Murders of Robert Black” →

50 – Murdered Abroad: The story of Jason Corbett

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Mental Health, murder, Self Defence, US Crime, Women Who Kill, Wrongly Accused

In August of 2015, a Limerick man, Jason Corbett, was found dead on his bedroom floor of the master bedroom of his lavish family home in North Carolina. His young wife and her father were covered in blood hen police arrived, and a bloody baseball bat and paving brick were found in the bedroom. They told the police that Jason had been killed in self defence. 

But Molly and Tom Martens would both face trial for the murder of Jason Corbett. The Limerick man’s family fought for justice, and for custody of his two young children, which was watched by people, both at home and abroad.

Continue reading “50 – Murdered Abroad: The story of Jason Corbett” →