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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In 1987, Brian McGrath disappeared. His wife, Vera, said he’d gone to Holland to find work. That he was abusive and delusional. But 6 years later, their eldest daughter Veronica told police that her mother, and her fiance at the time, had beaten Brian McGrath to death and buried and burned his body at their home in Coole, Co. Westmeath.
In the summer of 2000, 8 year old Sarah Payne was out playing in the evening sunshine with her two older brothers and her little sister. After falling, she ran out of the field and into a lane to head back to her grandparents with brother Lee following behind.
It’s St Patrick’s day. Worldwide, buildings are being “greened”. Shamrock shakes are being consumed. Guinness is being poured, and we’re drowning the shamrock.
But, this time of year sees a lot of bad behaviour. Some directly as a result of our celebration of all things Irish and some… a little more premeditated. This week, I’m joined by 4 other fabulous podcasts to tell the story of some St Patrick’s day crimes for you.
The small town of Ada Oklahoma was rocked in the early 80s by two unrelated murders of young women in the town. But by the mid 90s, that would change. The town would come under scrutiny for miscarriages of justice, where two and possibly more men were convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Last month, Netflix released The Innocent Man, a 6 part series looking at these crimes and their aftermaths. This week on the podcast, we take an in-depth look into just one of those cases, that of the murder of Debbie Sue Carter and the wrongful convictions of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz.
Ron and Dennis had very different journeys through their appeals processes, but both of their fates lay in the testing of DNA evidence. Would new science finally exonerate them?
In 2006, Sharon Collins decided that what she had wasn’t enough. She was a divorced mother of two, living with a long term partner, PJ Howard, who also had two sons. He also owned a multi-million euro property business, which he wanted to pass to his sons. So much so that he wouldn’t marry Sharon in order to ensure this. But despite the lavish lifestyle Sharon lived – nice houses, a penthouse apartment in Spain, a boat, basically anything she wanted – Sharon wanted more.
So, she got on her computer and between searches for weight loss and diet tips, she looked for a hitman. And she found one.
