logo
No new Garda investigation or ‘cold case review' into 1976 murder of Elizabeth Plunkett

No new Garda investigation or ‘cold case review' into 1976 murder of Elizabeth Plunkett

Irish Times6 days ago
The family of Elizabeth Plunkett, who was raped and murdered in 1976 by British criminals John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, have pledged to continue their campaign against Shaw's release from prison.
This is despite claimed new evidence failing to prompt a fresh
Garda
investigation into the killing of the Dublin woman.
Although the family has written to Minister for Justice
Jim O'Callaghan
and Garda Commissioner
Drew Harris
, the case has not been reopened. There are also no plans for a Garda 'cold case review'.
Garda Headquarters has, in reply to recent media queries, urged anyone with information on the case to come forward. However, sources played down the significance of that. They said it was a standard reference in reply to media queries about any unsolved crime, rather than a specific development in the case.
READ MORE
James MacGuill, a solicitor representing the Plunkett family, said people had come forward offering information after RTÉ broadcast a podcast series, Stolen Sister, prompted by Ms Plunkett's sisters Kathleen Nolan and Bernie Plunkett.
'The next logical step would be to, at least, appoint a specific [Garda] officer to co-ordinate all this,' Mr MacGuill said.
In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters said a Garda investigation had been conducted, in the 1970s, into the death of Ms Plunkett.
This 'ultimately led' to Shaw being charged with her 'murder, rape and false imprisonment' – though the murder charge was later dropped by the
Director of Public Prosecutions
. The Garda added that anyone with new information on the case should come forward.
The
Department of Justice
said Mr O'Callaghan 'cannot intervene' in the workings of the Garda or DPP's office as they were 'independent'.
[
Witnesses supply new information on 1976 killers of Elizabeth Plunkett
Opens in new window
]
In August 1976, Ms Plunkett (23) was abducted and killed near Brittas Bay,
Co Wicklow
. A month later, Mayo woman Mary Duffy was kidnapped and murdered. Both had been violently sexually attacked. Evans and Shaw were arrested in Galway in September 1976.
Evans was convicted of Ms Duffy's murder but acquitted of Ms Plunkett's killing. He died in jail in 2012.
Shaw was also convicted of Ms Duffy's murder but the DPP later dropped the charge of murdering Ms Plunkett, without explanation.
Ms Plunkett's sisters found out only recently that neither man had ever been convicted of her murder and were jailed for life for Ms Duffy's killing only.
The Parole Board is currently reviewing an application for release from Shaw, who in now 79 and has been in jail for 49 years.
Though they were initially included in that process as 'relevant victims', Ms Plunkett's family were excluded when it was realised the only sentence Shaw is now serving is for the murder of Ms Duffy.
Ms Plunkett's family believe Shaw still poses a danger to the public and should not be freed.
Multiple women have come forward in recent years to say they believe they were also targeted by Shaw and Evans during the men's 1976 crime spree.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

WRC finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer
WRC finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer

RTÉ News​

time21 minutes ago

  • RTÉ News​

WRC finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer

RTÉ has failed to have employment rights claims by the former on-set photographer for Fair City thrown out, after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled, for the first time, that a supposed freelancer at the national broadcaster was actually an employee. The statutory complaints were brought by photographer, Beta Bajgart, who was previously the subject of commentary at the Public Accounts Committee when it emerged the national broadcaster was paying €60,000 per year for promotional images of the Dublin-based soap opera. Ms Bajgart's case against RTÉ under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 will now proceed to a full hearing, following a preliminary ruling today. It is the first WRC case where the principles of a major Supreme Court ruling in 2023 on the distinction between employees and contractors have been applied to the position of a worker at RTÉ. The alleged misclassification of media workers as freelance contractors by RTÉ is a major legacy issue at the national broadcaster. She claims her job as a photographer on the set of RTÉ's flagship soap opera was terminated without notice on 15 December 2023. The broadcaster's lawyers had argued Ms Bajgart was not an employee, but a freelance contractor - giving the employment tribunal "no jurisdiction" her complaints. Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne noted that Ms Bajgart suffered "negative commentary" in September 2023 after attention was drawn to Ms Bajgart's role following a hearing of the Oireachtas Public Accounts committee, which had been scrutinising RTÉ's finances. In the wake of the publicity, Ms Bajgart's solicitors wrote to RTÉ asserting that she had acquired a contract of indefinite duration and was an employee, the tribunal noted. The broadcaster's director of human resources replied that RTÉ's relationship with the photographer was "not an employment relationship" but that she was "a supplier of services". Ms Bajgart was first engaged for the work as an independent contractor for a year starting in June 2011 at €750 a week. There were repeated renewals of the contract and Ms Bajgart won tender competitions in 2017 and 2019, with the rate for the job rising to €980 a week over that period, the tribunal noted. However, Ms Bajgart did not apply when the work was put out to tender again in September 2023, and ultimately ceased working on the Fair City set on 15 December 2023, when the tender process was readvertised, the adjudicator noted. Ms Bajgart gave evidence that she was interviewed for the job in 2011 and "got the contract", with "no discussion about the legal implications". She explained that she set the rate for the job based on her previous work for another production, Off the Rails. Addressing a gap in her contracts between 14 October 2018 and 21 January 2019, Ms Bajgart said she "simply continued to work" and got paid. Her barrister, Michael O'Doherty BL, who appeared instructed by Conor McCrave of Setanta Solicitors, asked if she had "consented to doing the job as an independent contractor. Ms Bajgart replied: "I wanted the job," and added that it was "never offered" to her as a position of employment. Under cross-examination from RTÉ's solicitor, Louise O'Byrne of Arthur Cox, asked Ms Bajgart whether she had done other work while engaged for Fair City. Ms Bajgart said she ran her freelance business around the Fair City shot list and that it was difficult to look for clients because she never knew when she was due on set. Ms O'Byrne also referred to a letter sent by the complainant to the Irish Times and the Irish Independent in September 2023 following remarks by Fine Gael senator Micheál Carrigy about Ms Bajgart's, in which the complainant had stated: "The photographer on RTÉ's Fair City is an independent contractor." Ms O'Byrne argued this showed the claimant "did not consider herself as an employee" of RTÉ. Mr O'Doherty said she had described herself as an independent contractor "because she did not want to upset her employer and potentially lose her job by publicly describing herself as an employee". Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne wrote that the "day-to-day reality" of Ms Bajgart's working relationship with RTÉ was "not consistent with how she was described in her contract as 'a supplier' and 'not an employee'". Ms Byrne noted that Ms Bajgart had been working 20 hours a week, part-time, for 12 years on "a series of fixed-term contracts" in a role which "contributes to the promotion and success" of Fair City. The worker had had a desk on set, "no discretion" about her level of attendance there, and could only work elsewhere three or four hours a week, and performed the work personally 95% of the time, Ms Byrne said. There were limits to Ms Bajgart's "artistic independence" and her freedom to alter her way of working in a bid to increase her earnings, with a fixed weekly rate being paid, Ms Byrne added. Ms Byrne also noted that during a period between October 2018 and January 2019, when there was no contract in place, Ms Bajgart "continued to turn up for work" and got her normal weekly rate "without any dispute". "This continuity of employment, in the absence of a contract, is indicative of a relationship of interdependence and trust, and not that of a commercial agreement," Ms Byrne wrote. "The authors of the agreements… may have genuinely believed that the working relationship with [Ms Bajgart] was that of an independent contractor, at least in the early years," she wrote. "However, it seems to me that the sustained nature of her job and the sole reliance by the respondent on the complainant to do the work, means that the legal basis of the agreement evolved from a supplier's agreement to that of an employee," she added. Ms Byrne wrote that her investigation of Ms Bajgart's status was clouded by the fact the photographer appeared to have "acquiesced" to being classified as self-employed for years - and even described herself as an independent contractor in open letters to two newspapers in 2023. "This acquiescence has no bearing on my conclusion that her relationship with the respondent was that of an employee," the adjudicator wrote.

Landmark ruling against RTÉ as WRC tribunal finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer
Landmark ruling against RTÉ as WRC tribunal finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer

Irish Independent

time2 hours ago

  • Irish Independent

Landmark ruling against RTÉ as WRC tribunal finds Fair City photographer was not a freelancer

RTÉ has failed to have employment rights claims by the former on-set photographer for Fair City thrown out, after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled, for the first time, that a supposed freelancer at the national broadcaster was actually an employee. The statutory complaints were brought by photographer, Beta Bajgart, who was previously the subject of commentary at the Public Accounts Committee when it emerged the national broadcaster was paying €60,000 per year for promotional images of the Dublin-based soap opera.

‘Honest belief' of consent raised in pair's appeals against convictions for rape of vulnerable teenager
‘Honest belief' of consent raised in pair's appeals against convictions for rape of vulnerable teenager

Irish Times

time3 hours ago

  • Irish Times

‘Honest belief' of consent raised in pair's appeals against convictions for rape of vulnerable teenager

Two of three men jailed for the gang rape of a vulnerable teenager who had recently left State care have launched appeals against their convictions, arguing issues of consent were relevant during their trial. At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, counsel for Dion Genockey (26) argued the trial judge should have advised the jury his client may have had reasons for not mentioning to gardaí that he believed the victim had given her consent. On behalf of Daryl Rooney (27), it was argued he was not aware the woman had not given her consent. Genockey, of Clarion Quay Apartments, and Rooney, of Railway Street, Dublin city centre, were convicted of raping the woman at Bull Island, Dollymount, Dublin, on January 5th, 2016. READ MORE The convictions came in 2022 following a second trial at the Central Criminal Court. The jury in the first trial, held in 2020, was unable to reach a verdict. Genockey was sentenced to nine years in prison, while Rooney was sentenced to 10 years. A third accused, Troy Ryan, of Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin city centre, was also convicted and sentenced to 9½ years. The sentencing court heard the men maintain their innocence and do not accept the jury's verdict. Genockey's senior counsel, Thomas O'Malley, said his client had given evidence at the trial that the complainant had consented, but he had not mentioned this in interviews with gardaí. Mr O'Malleysaid Genockey was advised by his father not to mention anything to gardaí, which in this case turned out to be his defence. Counsel submitted that the trial judge ought to have told the jury they must consider the possibility that Genockey may have had reasons for not mentioning to gardaí that he believed the woman had consented. Senior counsel for Rooney, Dominic McGinn, said that, to achieve a rape conviction, the prosecution must prove the act, the absence of consent and that the accused knows there is an absence of consent. In this case, said counsel, the third aspect was lacking. Mr McGinn said the complainant said she was not interested in sexual activity, but when Rooney was alone with her in the car, she did not say anything. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said that while he was relying on the defence of 'honest belief' of consent, this belief must be founded in reality. 'Where is the counter evidence? The evidence was all going the one way, as she said she did not consent,' said Ms Justice Kennedy. Mr McGinn said the complainant had changed her mind about getting into the car with the men, which made Rooney 'alive to the fact she was a young woman who could change her mind'. 'By the time he got into the car, he knew two others had had sexual relations with her,' said Mr McGinn. He said that in her evidence, the complainant said she made it clear to the first two men that she was not consenting, but Rooney was not aware of that. On behalf of the State, senior counsel Eilis Brennan said the prosecution had argued that this was a very vulnerable woman addicted to tablets and was targeted by the men. They lured her away in a car, even though she told them she did not want to have sex, and took her to a remote location. Addressing Rooney's claim he did not know the woman did not consent, Ms Brennan said 'honest belief' of consent is subjective, but there must be some reality to it. She said there was ample evidence for the matter to go to a jury. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, presiding over the three-judge court, said the court would deliver its judgment at a later date.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store