Garda Serious Crime Review Team
(01) 6663444
Garda Confidential Line
1800 666 111
Police Service of Northern Ireland
0845 600 8000
Crimestoppers (Republic of Ireland)
1800 25 00 25
Crimestoppers (Northern Ireland)
0800 555 111
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost I wish to thank the families of murder victims who spoke to me during my research for this book. In particular I say thank you to the families of Lorcan O’Byrne, Nancy Smyth, Inga-Maria Hauser, Brooke Pickard, Grace Livingstone and Stephen Hughes Connors. The grief these families experience is compounded by the fact that their loved ones’ murders remain unsolved. These families gave generously of their time and often of their hospitality and I am grateful for their time and trust. Thank you to Niall and Gerard O’Byrne for speaking on behalf of the O’Byrne family about their memories of the night Lorcan was shot dead by armed robbers in 1981. One of the two-man armed gang was later caught and convicted but the man who pulled the trigger was never brought to justice. Thank you to Des Murphy in Kilkenny for speaking with me on his family’s behalf about his aunt Nancy Smyth, who was murdered in Kilkenny in 1987. In Germany, I say a special thank you to Almut Hauser whose youngest daughter Inga-Maria was murdered in Northern Ireland in 1988. Thank you Almut for your hospitality and for sharing your memories of Inga-Maria. Thank you to Penny Pickard whose husband Brooke vanished in Co. Kerry in 1991. A group of men from Northern Ireland are suspected of abducting the father of four. Penny and her family continue to hope that answers will be forthcoming about the case. Thank you to Jimmy Livingstone for speaking with me on many occasions about his ongoing campaign for his wife’s killer or killers to be brought to justice. Jimmy’s wife Grace was murdered in her home in Malahide in 1992 and, as a result of Jimmy’s persistence, the Cold Case Unit are now investigating the case. Thank you to Stephen Hughes Connors’s parents Liz and Billy for welcoming me into their home and sharing memories of their eldest child. The killing of Stephen in September 2001 is one of the few child killings in Ireland which remains unsolved. Thank you to each of you for your trust and I sincerely hope you get answers, and see your loved one’s killer or killers caught and convicted.
During my research I received invaluable assistance from An Garda Síochána. Thank you especially to former Commissioner Noel Conroy for penning the Foreword for this book. Noel was Commissioner when the force established its Cold Case Unit in 2007. Thank you also to the members of the Serious Crime Review Team, otherwise known as the Cold Case Unit. In particular thank you to Detective Superintendent Christy Mangan for his interview about the ongoing and increasing work of the Unit. Thank you also to Detective Sergeant Noel Mooney for his briefing on the work of the Violent Crimes Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS), which is utilised by the Cold Case Unit. Thank you also to Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey for his pointers on the process of reviewing unsolved murders. Both Noel and Alan retired from the Cold Case Unit in 2011 after decades of service.
Thank you to Superintendent John Gilligan, Inspector John Ferris and all Gardaí at the Garda Press Office, and thank you to Director of Communications Sinéad McSweeney.
There are many Gardaí, both serving and retired, who provided crucial assistance with historical research. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir. Thank you especially to former Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey and former Detective Superintendent Michael Byrne. Thanks again to Inspector Syl Hipwell and thank you to retired Garda Paul Downey.
I also received invaluable assistance from the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to my research into the murder of Inga-Maria Hauser in Co. Antrim in 1988. In particular thank you to Detective Superintendent Raymond Murray and Detective Inspector Tom McClure. Thank you also once again to Ken Devlin at the PSNI Press Office.
Thank you also to British cold-case expert, retired Detective Superintendent Mick Burdis, who works with Jimmy Livingstone to uncover the truth about the murder of Jimmy’s wife Grace.
Thank you to Eamonn Balmer and to Mick and Breda O’Byrne for recounting their memories of the night Lorcan O’Byrne was murdered in his home above The Anglers Rest pub in 1981.
In Germany I thank Nele Obermueller who worked as my translator during my interview with Almut Hauser, Inga-Maria’s mother. In Switzerland thank you also to Nele’s fellow victim support worker, Susanne Nielen, who put me in touch with Nele.
In Westmeath I thank funeral director Michael Cassidy for his poignant memories both of the occasion in May 2008 when the body of murder victim Brian McGrath was exhumed as part of a cold-case review, and also the occasion when Brian’s body was finally laid to rest for ever more in late 2010.
Thank you to Kilkenny Coroner Tim Kiely, Westmeath Coroner Dr Wilfred Hoover, Clare Coroner Isobel O’Dea, Offaly Coroner Brian Mahon, Kildare Coroner Dr Denis Cusack and also to Bríd McCormack in the Kildare Coroner’s Office. Thank you to Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell and to Jerry Ryan and all the staff in the Dublin City Coroner’s Office. Thank you to Dublin County Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty and to Ciara Geraghty and Eileen Tobin in the Dublin County Coroner’s Office. Thank you to Kildare County Registrar Eithne Coughlan.
Thank you to the staff of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Offices and also to the staff of the National Archives. Thank you to Amanda Dully of the Dublin Fire Service Communications Department.
Thank you to all at KCLR, especially Sue Nunn and John Purcell. Thank you to journalist Seán Keane of the Kilkenny People and to Padraig Hoare and Ann Murphy of the Evening Echo. Thank you to Alex Hatton of 4FM. Thank you to David Harvey and Genevieve Brennan of City Channel for arranging a copy of Crimeline programmes from years gone by. At Coco Television, thanks to Stuart Switzer, Linda Cullen and to Ceoladh Sheahan for arranging copies of Crimecall programmes from more recent years.
There are many others who by the nature of their assistance must remain anonymous. Go raibh maith agaibh one and all.
At Gill & Macmillan, I say thank you to Publishing Director Fergal Tobin, and also to Peter Thew, Deirdre Rennison Kunz, Teresa Daly, Ciara O’Connor, Jen Patton, Nicki Howard and Antoinette Doddy.
Thank you to all my colleagues in the RTÉ Newsroom, especially Crime Correspondent Paul Reynolds and Midlands Correspondent Ciarán Mullooly. Thank you also to Neil Burke, Ross Byrne, Billy Hanrahan and all in the RTÉ News Library and also to Carolyn Fisher and Anne Gill in the RTÉ News Press Office. And a very special thank you to both Ray Purser and Marguerite Sheridan for crucial technical support.
Thank you to my former colleagues in Today FM, and thank you as always to my former boss in Midlands Radio 3, Barry Flynn. Thank you to the staff of my two former schools—St Mark’s Primary and St Mark’s Secondary in Tallaght.
Thank you to my parents Patricia O’Neill and Barry Cummins for their constant support and interest. Thank you also to my brother Mark for his ongoing interest and encouragement.
Finally, thank you to my wife Grace, our daughter Ruby and son Conor for their constant and wonderful support, ideas, motivation, guidance and encouragement, and without whom I could not have written this book.
Gill & Macmillan
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Park West
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Ireland
with associated companies throughout the world
www.gillmacmillan.ie
© Barry Cummins 2012
First published by Gill & Macmillan 2012
This ebook edition published by Gill & Macmillan 2012
978 07171 4802 8 (print)
978 07171 5466 1 (epub)
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Cover design by Anú Design (www.anu-design.ie)
Cover photograph © Ashley Cooper/Corbis
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission of the publishers.
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p; A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The website addresses referred to in this book were correct at the time of first publication.
The Author
Barry Cummins is a journalist with RTÉ and the author of four previous bestsellers:
• Missing
• Lifers
• Unsolved
• Without Trace
For updates on the work of Barry Cummins please visit www.facebook.com/barrycummins
About Gill & Macmillan
Gill & Macmillan’s story begins in 1856 when Michael Henry Gill, then printer for Dublin University, purchased the publishing and bookselling business of James McGlashan, forming McGlashan & Gill. Some years later, in 1875, the company name was changed to M.H. Gill & Son. Gill & Macmillan as we know it today was established in 1968 as a result of an association with Macmillan of London. There was also a bookshop, popularly known as Gills, located on Dublin’s O’Connell Street for 123 years until it eventually closed in 1979. Today our bookshop can be found online at www.gillmacmillan.ie.
Gill & Macmillan is proud to publish a broad range of non-fiction books of Irish interest, from history to economics, politics to cookery and biography to children’s. Since 1968, we have published outstanding authors and groundbreaking books such as the Encyclopaedia of Ireland, David McWilliams’ The Pope’s Children, Noël Browne’s Against the Tide, Garret FitzGerald’s All in a Life, Augustine Martin’s Soundings – not to mention three generations of Ballymaloe’s Allen family on our cookery list.
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The Cold Case Files Page 24
