In 1981, Nora Sheehan went missing from Ballyphehane, Co Cork. She was found dead a week later, and gardai soon had a prime suspect for her murder while investigating another crime.
But a series of setbacks meant no trial was held in the case until 2023.
This episode was researched and written by Aileen Spearin.
Continue reading “138 – The Longest Wait for Justice: Nora Sheehan”
In March of 1999, Phillip Colgan and his wife Mary walked into Rathfarnham Garda Station and with a story to tell. It would be his first of many., and it would be up to a jury to decide which was true – and who killed Layla Brennan.
This episode was researched and written by Aileen Spearin.
Continue reading “127 – An Unusual Defence: Layla Brennan”17 year old Siobhan Hynes went out with friends to the small village of an Cheathru Rua on the night of Sat 5th December 1998. She never made it home.
Siobhan’s body was found the following day, on the foreshore of a nearby beach.
How could something like this happen in such a small, isolated community?
This episode was researched and written by Aileen Spearin.
Continue reading “124 – Siobhan Hynes: Murder Most Foul”In September of 1989, 19 year old Deirdre Mulcahy was heading out for the night to meet her friends in Midleton, Co Cork. She never returned home. The garda investigation into her killing would last years – the court proceedings, however, would not.
Continue reading “113 – The Passers-by: The murder of Deirdre Mulcahy”On 9 November 1970, in the little village of Clonroche, Co Wexford, a young girl went missing. Just a few hours later her body was found dumped in a field not far from her home, and the main street of town.
The only certain thing at the outset of the investigation into 9 year old Marie Buckley’s murder was that this terrible thing had been done by someone local.
Continue reading “112 – A Terrible Thing: The murder of Marie Buckley”On the 29th of December, 1996, Gardai were called to a flat on Liffey St in Dublin city centre. Inside was the body of 26 year old British-Sri Lankan woman, Belinda Pereira, who was staying in Dublin for just a week. The nature of her trip prompted many inches of tabloid fodder. She had come to Dublin in order to carry out sex work.
But the voyeuristic media attention on Belinda’s case did not last long.
Sadly, today, her name is all but forgotten.
Continue reading “111 – Unsolved: The killing of Belinda Pereira”On 25th September, 2001, 28 year old German tourist Bettina Poeschel took a train from Dublin to Drogheda, Co Louth. She wanted to visit Newgrange – an ancient monument in the Meath countryside. She decided to make the 10km walk from the town to take in the countryside while there.
But Bettina never made it to Newgrange.
She had disappeared into thin air.
Continue reading “107 – The Day Trip: Bettina Poeschel”57 year old Rose Farrelly was found dead in her own home on the morning of the 15th February 1993. It appeared that the house had been broken into, and then the single woman had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
The trial for Rose’s murder was the first in Ireland to use DNA evidence.But the reason for Rose’s murder remains unclear – it appears the answer may be the most frightening of all.
He did it because he could.
Continue reading “104 – Brazen: The murder of Rose Farrelly”On Christmas morning, 2008, 81 year old widow Maire Rankin was not answering the phone. Family members called around to her Newry home to check on her – not only had she been recently ill but it was totally out of character for her to not respond.
When they arrived at the house on the Dublin Road, Maire was found dead on her bedroom floor. The house was a mess, and it appeared that Mrs Rankin had been subjected to a violent assault of a sexual nature.
No one expected it when Maire’s 42 year old neighbour was arrested. Not only was Karen Walsh a woman, she was a wealthy pharmacist who stayed in her second home in Newry on the weekends.
What on earth had happened, and was the mother of one really responsible for the death of the elderly woman?
Continue reading “103 – A killing at Christmas: The murder of Maire Rankin”There has been a lot of progress in relation to equal rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ in Ireland. However, despite decriminalisation in 1993, and the passage of Marriage Equality in 2015, there is still much to do. In addition to requiring effective hate speech legislation, the defence of provocation does allow a person accused of murder to claim that a romantic or sexual advance by an LGBTQ+ person resulted in a loss of control leading to the killing of that person.
In this episode, we explore cases where this partial defence was employed at trial and appeal: the killing of John Roche in 1982, the murder of Gerard Hackett in 2002, and the kidnap and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998.
Reasearch & Writing by Eileen MacFarlene of the Crimelapse Podcast