On 12th July, 2002 Jong Ok Shin a Korean language student was brutally murdered while living in Bournemouth. A local drug addicted man, Omar Benguit was quickly identified as the prime suspect.
But shortly after, it would emerge that at the time of Ms Shin’s death, a man that had committed two murders, was living just streets away.
Continue reading “61 – Retrial: The murder of Jong Ok Shin”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”In 1992, a murder unlike any other happened in the quiet seaside town of Malahide. Grace Livingstone (56) was bound and then shot in the head in her own home.
Gardai initially suspected that the culprit was someone close to her – Grace’s husband, Jim. But Jim himself suspected that whoever was responsible had taken their displeasure for him, and his position at the Irish taxing authority, out on poor Grace.
Her murder remains unsolved.
Continue reading “57 – Unsolved: The murder of Grace Livingstone”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”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”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”This week, we delve into the world of the paranormal – sort of.
In 1974, in the small town of Ossett, northern England, Michael and Christine Taylor found religion. They became born again after attending a small Fellowship meeting in their community.
The meetings had a profound effect on Michael, and he began to act oddly. His behaviour led local clergy to suspect that Michael had been possessed by demons, and so an exorcism was in order. But, before the end of that process, someone would be dead.
Continue reading “53 – Exorcism: The death of Christine Taylor”Mary Gough tragically fell down the stairs in her home, only 6 months after her wedding day. Or, at least that’s what her husband, Colin Whelan, said. When Mary was rushed to the hospital after this purported accident, the Gardai did not take him at his word.
His story did not add up, and Colin Whelan was charged with with Mary’s murder. But when Whelan’s car was discovered at the top of Howth Head near the seaside cliffs, people thought that there would be no justice for Mary.
But they were wrong.
Continue reading “52 – Betrayal: The murder of Mary Gough”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.
Continue reading “51 – Rampage: The murders of Elizabeth Plunkett & Mary Duffy”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”