In the summer of 2017, body parts were discovered strewn across the scenic landscape of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. Gardai began a wide-scale search and a murder investigation. But only days later a man presented himself at a south Dublin Garda station, confessing to the murder of his 61 year old mother in law, Patricia O’Connor.
But was he telling the whole story?
Continue reading “95 – Desecration: The murder of Patricia O’Connor”On Christmas Day, 1929, postman Larry Griffen went to work in the small village of Stradbally, Co Waterford. As he called into homes with the post, he was thanked with tips and a few drinks. That night, Larry never made it home. His bike was found abandoned in the middle of the road.
A conspiracy of silence kept the truth of what happened to Larry Griffin from his family, and still does to this day.
Continue reading “72 – The Missing Postman: Larry Griffin”In 1940, 24 year old Michael Devereux disappeared from his home in Co Wexford. A year later, his body would be discovered buried in an isolated part of Co Tipperary. A number of men who were known members of the IRA found themselves accused of the murder – allegedly motivated by the belief that Devereux had been a spy among their ranks.
A four month legal battle ensued, which saw the use of the Emergency Powers Act passed to deal with “The Emergency” of the ongoing war in Europe used to circumvent due process and normal court procedures in order to hold the men accountable.
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?
Continue reading “67 – Honor Bright: Murder in the Free State”In 2002, two ten year old girls – Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman – went missing in the quiet and idyllic English town of Soham. It quickly became apparent that the girls had not simply wandered off. What followed was two week search for them, and the revelation that a terrible crime had taken place.
The shocking truth was that the girls had been murdered by a member of their community, someone they knew. And someone they trusted.
Continue reading “36 – Holly & Jessica: The Soham Murders”In the second and final instalment of the Black Widow story, the Gardai ramp up their investigation into her, and she is finally charged with the murder of her husband, and conspiracy to commit murder. The trial took place in 2000, and lasted a whopping 62 days. After three attempts to start, it finally got under way and Willie McClean, Gerry Heapes and John Jones recounted their tales to the jury.
We also examine the aftermath of the whole sorry affair, including Justice O’Buachalla coming under scrutiny in the Murphy Inquiry, and the various appeals that Catherine brought before the courts, before finally discussing the subject that was closest to Catherine’s heart: money.
Continue reading “10 – Catherine Nevin: The Black Widow (Part 2)”
The weekend of St Patrick’s Day, 1996, Tom Nevin was found lying dead from a gunshot wound to the chest in the kitchen of his pub, Jack White’s in the popular seaside town of Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. His wife, Catherine, had sounded the alarm and when the Gardai arrived they found her bound by the wrists. She said that intruders had entered the pub, looking for jewellery. But something wasn’t quite right, the scene seemed staged, and soon the Gardai began unravelling a web of deceit constructed carefully over nearly 10 years of a plan to have Tom Nevin killed. All eyes now turned to Catherine. Was she really a grieving widow? Or a Black Widow who had her husband killed to get control of their assets?
Continue reading “10 – Catherine Nevin: The Black Widow (Part 1)”