Category: love triangle

126 – Sex, Lies and Videotape: the murder of Gerry McGinley

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Black Widow, Domestic Violence, Drug-related, Intimate Partner Violence, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, murder, murder for profit, Organised Crime, Women Who Kill

In August of 2000, Gerry McGinley disappeared from his home near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. His wife Julie said he had packed up a plastic bag and had taken off.

The police investigation came up with numerous leads. Had Gerry fallen foul of the Real IRA? Or maybe he’d crossed drug dealers? Was his former lover – or indeed her husband – enraged enough to make him run, or worse? It also seemed likely Gerry had been blackmailing local men with videos they’d rather not exist…

Or perhaps the answer was much closer to home, and to be found in the newly re-decorated master bedroom of the McGinley’s bungalow…

This episode was researched and written by Aileen Spearin.

Continue reading “126 – Sex, Lies and Videotape: the murder of Gerry McGinley” →

120 – Dear Diary: The murder of Alison Shaughnessy

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Cold Case, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, murder, UK Crime, unsolved, Vintage murder, Women Who Kill, Wrongly Accused

In June of 1991, 21 year old newly-wed Alison Shaughnessy was found lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to her flat in London by her husband John. After a stalled police investigation, two women were arrested and tried for Alison’s murder.

But is it possible that what was presented to the court as motive for her murder, gleaned from a 21 year old woman’s diary, had pointed police in the wrong direction?

Who killed Alison Shaughnessy?

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106 – Unintended: The murder of Ann Walsh

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, love triangle, Mental Health, murder

In August of 2005, 23 year old Ann Walsh was found dead in the grounds of the parish church in Kilrush, Co Clare. Gardai made an arrest shortly after the discovery – Raymond Donovan, Ann’s former boyfriend.

Donovan admitted to gardai that he had killed Ann, but denied her murder. Would the jury agree?

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105 – Vendetta: The murder of Tracy Butler

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Controversial Case, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, Mental Health, murder, Organised Crime, Women Who Kill

In July of 1993, 17 year old Tracy Butler was set upon and stabbed to death while walking home in what appeared to be a random act of violence. But as gardai began investigating the case, they began unravelling a complicated web of relationships – ones which had turned sour.

Continue reading “105 – Vendetta: The murder of Tracy Butler” →

88 – Unknown Location: the Murder of Meg Walsh

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Cold Case, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, love triangle, murder, unsolved, Wrongly Accused

In October of 2006, Meg Walsh went missing. She wasn’t at her home, and she didn’t turn up for work. The garda investigation that followed revealed that Meg had had some troubling experiences recently in her private life. Her body was found in the river Suir two weeks after she was first reported missing.

But without a crime scene, would it be possible to get justice for Meg?

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84 – Dark Saga: The Murder of Philomena Gillane

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Cold Case, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, love triangle, murder, unsolved

In May of 1994, Philomena Gillane was 7 months pregnant. On the morning of Wednesday the 11th, she left her home early to head to work. But she never arrived. She was found dead in the boot of her own car 25 miles away, at Athlone Train station.

Her family would spend the next 3 years in and out of courts dealing with the fallout from her brutal murder, and in a search for justice that was never fully achieved.

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75 – Pathological: The murders of Lesley Clarke and Trevor Buchanan

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Black Widow, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, Mental Health, murder, murder for profit, Public Inquiry, sex crimes, Women Who Kill

In May of 1991, the bodies of Lesley Clarke and Trevor Buchanan were discovered in a fume filled car, parked in Lesley’s deceased father’s garage. The deaths were ruled a tragic double suicide – probably the result of the affair that Lesley and Trevor’s spouses were carrying on together.

But 18 years later, a startling confession would launch a renewed investigation into the deaths, this time as a case of murder. The prime suspects were the victim’s spouses – Colin Howell and Hazel Buchanan.

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67 – Honor Bright: Murder in the Free State

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Capital Punishment, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, murder, sex crimes, unsolved, Vintage murder, Wrongly Accused

In 1925, while the Irish Free State was still in its infancy after the close of the civil war, the body of a young woman was found dead lying at a lonely cross roads in South County Dublin. Her name was Honor Bright, a woman who made her living as a sex worker in town.

Two men were tried for her shooting death, but was her killing a the result of her “unfortunate” status, or part of an attempt to keep scandal away from the halls of power in a newly-independent Ireland?

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65 – A Deadly Affair: The killing of Penny McAllister

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Controversial Case, Insanity Defence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, Mental Health, murder, UK Crime, Women Who Kill 





Bobby Ryan was a well known and well loved figure in Tipperary. He was a local DJ, known as Mr moonlight, in addition to his work in the local quarry. He was divorced, with two grown up children and in 2011, he was dating a local widow – Mary Lowry.





On the 3rd of June of that year, Bobby Ryan went missing. 8 years later, it was spark the longest-running criminal trial in the history of the state.





But how did we get here?





Part Two of this two part series on the recent trial and media spectacle dubbed the “Tipperary Love Rival Trial” follows the 15 week long trial from prosecution witnesses to closing arguments, the delivery of the verdict, and what happened after.




 Continue reading “46 – Tipperary Love Triangle: Patrick Quirke & the murder of Mr Moonlight (Part Two)” →