Podcast Corner: New series looks back on the tragic tale of Elizabeth Plunkett
Elizabeth could be a bit bossy - she read Cosmo and had notions, according to one of her sisters. At a nearby pub, she and Damian have a minor argument, a lovers' tiff. He recalled: 'I put my finger on her left cheek and said, 'Go away, don't be annoying me.' She said, 'If you do that again, I'll go home.' I said to her, 'Go home, then.' Stolen Sister narrator Roz Purcell says: 'No one could have imagined that what happened next would set in train a series of events that would see Elizabeth's life being savagely taken from her.'
Later that night, she was abducted, raped, and murdered by Ireland's serial killers John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, who had recently been released from prison. With extradition back to the UK looming over them, they had a savage plan: They were going to do exactly what they wanted to do while they were on the run in Ireland - kidnap, rape, and kill one woman a week for as long as they could get away with it.
Stolen Sister is the latest podcast series from RTÉ Documentary on One (Where is Jón?, The Real Carrie Jade, Runaway Joe). Written and produced by Nicoline Greer, episodes clock in at under 30 minutes and the six-part series wraps on Friday, July 4. The series began with an email sent to the producers out of the blue by Elizabeth's sisters Bernie and Kathleen a couple years ago; it's the first time the family are speaking out about their sister's murder.
Elizabeth Plunkett.
Now in their sixties, they finish each other's sentences, painting a picture of working class family life in Ringsend, where apple pies were baked at the weekend. But when news of their sister's disappearance from Brittas Bay made it to their front door, it was like their mother just knew, they said. It upended everything.
The series, with original music by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck (performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra) and sound design by Ciarán Dunne, is vivid, sucking the listener into a sad tale, with Garda statements by friends and the killers recounted by actors.
The murder grips the nation and sees Shaw and Evans abscond to Tipperary and then Galway, in a car they've stolen, changed the number plates on, and repainted with regular paint. Stolen Sister tracks the manhunt for the pair — how it slowly tightens, but only after they strike again.
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