On 28th February 2006, Siobhan McLoughlin was found dead in locked bedroom. At first glance, it looked as if she had tragically taken her own life. But within hours after her death, police and the McLoughlin family felt sure that she had been brutally murdered.
But would the State be able to prove guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt?
Continue reading “90 – Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The murder of Siobhan McLoughlin”In April of 1986, three armed men burst into a lavish home in Howth. When they left, they brought with them Jennifer Guinness, mother of three and wife of the head of a merchant bank. A ransom was demanded for her return.
Despite the quick mobilisation of gardai all over Dublin, Jennifer’s captor would evade capture for over a week.
Continue reading “89 – The Ordeal: Jennifer Guinness”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”In October of 2012, 30 year old Aoife Phelan went missing without a trace. Aoife had simply left a friends house and vanished with no sign of what might become of her. A garda investigation began to find the woman who had told hr family she was 4 months pregnant.
It would be a long two weeks before police discovered what had become of her.
Continue reading “81 – A Voyage of Fiction: The murder of Aoife Phelan”In the early hours New Year’s day, 2014 Wayne McQuillan stumbled out of a house in Rathmullen Park, Drogheda Co Louth. He was covered in blood. Paula Farrell, his partner would face trial for his murder three times.
But did she have a defence?
Continue reading “80 – Trauma: The murder of Wayne McQuillan”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”22 year old Rachel Kiely left home in Ballincollig, Co. Cork with her two dogs on the afternoon of the 26th of October 2000. Her dogs returned to the house, but she didn’t. A few hours later, her body was discovered hidden in undergrowth at the local park.
The person responsible would spend the next two decades in and out of court.
Continue reading “73 – The Park: The Killing of Rachel Kiely”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 the early hours of New Years Day 2003, Rachel Moran decided leave her parents house and make the 20 minute walk to her own flat. Her worried mother tried to stop her, but Rachel said she would be fine: she’d ring as soon as she got in.
But the phone call never came.
And Rachel was never seen alive again.
Continue reading “71 – A Walk in the Dark: The murder of Rachel Moran”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”