Latest news with #ElizabethPlunkett
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
Evil rapist and serial killer John Shaw ‘on borrowed time' with months left to live
The 79-year-old, who is currently housed at Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin, is due for a parole hearing next Febraury but a source said he is 'very unlikely to make it that long' Serial killer John Shaw is unlikely to make it to his next parole hearing as he is 'on borrowed time' as he struggles to breathe due to poor health. The evil rapist and murderer, who is currently Ireland's longest serving prisoner, is believed to only have a few months left to live due to his struggles with a lung condition. The 79-year-old, who is currently housed at Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin, is due for a parole hearing next February but a source said he is 'very unlikely to make it that long'. The family of one of his victims, Elizabeth Plunkett, have been calling for a cold case review into her murder after it emerged that Shaw and his partner-in-crime Geoffrey Evans were never prosecuted over her killing. It emerged during an inquest hearing into her death that Shaw was never prosecuted for her murder while now deceased Evans was only convicted of her rape and false imprisonment, but not her murder. A source said that if gardai are to question Shaw they must act now instead of waiting until it is too late. The source said: 'Shaw's health is declining at a very rapid rate, he is really struggling to breath let alone walk or do anything. 'After every five or six steps he has to stop and take a break. He used to be known as a laid back person in prison but since his health has declined he has become very angry. 'The good weather hasn't helped with his breathing either as the cells in Arbour Hill are smaller than most due to when the prison was built so they are extremely hot and clammy. 'It's very unlikely in his current state that he will make it to 2026 for his parole hearing. 'He had been getting the odd day out on supervised temporary release but there are no other days planned yet. 'To be honest it would be a struggle for him to even walk around town like he did on the last day out. 'It is important that if the gardai have any questions to put to him that they do it now rather than when he is unable to speak and on his death bed.' English career criminal Shaw along with his accomplice Geoffrey Evans, met in an English prison where they hatched their chilling plot to abduct, torture, rape and murder women. The pair travelled around Ireland during the summer of 1976 resolving to kill one woman a week. Their twisted killing spree ended with the murder of young clerk Elizabeth Plunkett, 23, in Co Wicklow and cook Mary Duffy, 24, in Co Mayo. VICTIM: Elizabeth Plunkett The two men were caged for life in February 1978 but shockingly, despite Shaw confessing to the killing of Elizabeth with his now deceased partner-in-crime, the pair were never convicted of the Dublin woman's murder. Evans died from an infection in 2012 after being in a vegetative state for three years. The 68-year-old, who was also serving his sentence at Dublin's Arbour Hill, was rendered helpless by a stroke following a heart bypass operation at the Mater Hospital on Christmas Eve, 2008, Dublin's Coroner's Court heard in 2013. His post-mortem found he died as a result of sepsis due to hospital acquired pneumonia. A new podcast series called Stolen Sister, which centres on Ms Plunkett's case, aired last month. John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans It emerged earlier this week that seven people had come forward to allege they were potentially targeted, or witnessed others being targeted, by the two serial killers in 1976. The two sisters of Elizabeth Plunkett told RTE News earlier this year: 'We're relieved that this individual, who confessed to abducting, raping and murdering our beloved Elizabeth has once again been refused parole. 'However, he has still not faced justice for what he did to our sister. 'We're calling on the DPP to tell us why this man never faced the courts for what he did to our Elizabeth. And we're asking the gardai to now re-examine his case so Elizabeth can finally get some justice.' Serial killer John Shaw Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 20th
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Irish Times
No new Garda investigation or ‘cold case review' into 1976 murder of Elizabeth Plunkett
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.
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- RTÉ News
Plunkett family appeal for public to contact gardaí over 1976 murder
The sister of Dublin woman Elizabeth Plunkett said that a garda request for new information into her death was the "first positive reaction" they have had since her murder 49 years ago. Kathleen Nolan said she and her sister Bernie Plunkett feel validated that they contacted the team at RTÉ Documentary On One to collaborate on the Stolen Sister podcast and are happy with this next step. John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans confessed to abducting, raping and murdering both Elizabeth Plunkett in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, and Mary Duffy in Conamara, Co Galway, in 1976. Originally, both men were charged with murder, rape and false imprisonment of Elizabeth Plunkett and Mary Duffy. However, when Shaw began a parole application in 2023, it was revealed he had never been convicted for Elizabeth Plunkett's murder despite previous reports. It was also revealed to the Plunkett family that the State never held an inquest into the death of Ms Plunkett, nor ever issued a death certificate in her name. The collaboration between the family and the Stolen Sister podcast led to an inquest being held into Elizabeth Plunkett's death earlier this year. In a statement, gardaí said: "Any person who believes they have new information into the death of Elizabeth Plunkett should make that information known/ available to An Garda Síochána in Wexford/ Wicklow Garda Division." It added that any new information which is brought to the attention of An Garda Síochána will be assessed. In late May, the Plunkett family's solicitor, James MacGuill SC, wrote to the DPP, the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice requesting a cold case review into Elizabeth Plunkett's death and a renewed public appeal for evidence. An Garda Síochána has not commenced any new investigation or cold case review into the murder of Ms Plunkett. Ms Nolan explained that it was an area they knew nothing about at the beginning, and that they had had to pick through everything a thousand times to understand why the case was left the way it was. Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne she said they were grateful to their legal team, and that the research conducted by Documentary On One has been "fabulous". "We have been putting together a timeline of everything that happened, and now we just need to know why these decisions were made. "With people able to use the guards in Wicklow and Wexford, the Doc On One and the legal team, that's three places that if anyone wants to get in contact. It opens it up another little bit. "Hopefully, the more leads we get, the better." She said that the process has been chilling and shocking, and that she and her sister had never considered that there would be anyone else affected by this. Bonus episode detailing case progress Today, they are launching a petition on the website called: "Justice for Elizabeth Plunkett", and they encouraged people to sign it. Ms Nolan said it is another way of presenting the case to the parole board, the Government, An Garda Síochána, the DPP and the Minister for Justice. "We want to let everyone see what happened, and they can be part of the change and really help us." Speaking about taking part in the podcast, she said that she and her sister felt a responsibility to Elizabeth and everyone out there, and it was a hard thing to do, but the support since has been amazing. "After we relived what we had gone through that we had buried, it just became completely unacceptable. "Irish life has changed so much over time. What might have been acceptable in the 1970s is definitely not acceptable now, and that's why we decided to approach the Doc On One team". She said that she was grateful to their relations, colleagues, friends, and neighbours in Ringsend, Dublin. She added that their children and grandchildren were nervous for them, but very proud of them at the same time.
RTÉ News
07-07-2025
- RTÉ News
What Stolen Sister series tells us about traumatic family loss
Analysis: As shown in Stolen Sister and the case of Elizabeth Plunkett, the loss of a sibling has a tremendous impact on family members It happens with age. You find yourself amongst a group of peers talking about your first encounter with death. For many, it is a family pet or grandparent. In very tragic cases, it's a schoolmate. For a lucky few, these encounters do not come till well into their teenage years or beyond. For me, I was almost two years old and it was my baby brother. The conversation would usually dissolve pretty quickly after that revelation. It is understandable if people assume that the death of an infant sibling at such a young age wouldn't have much effect. However, it fundamentally shaped the person I became. As a child, I would constantly think about family members dying. If my parents went out at night, I would stay awake until the car lights lit up my room, indicating they were home safely. When someone was unwell, I would crawl into their room to check they were breathing. In adolescence, I was averse to risk-taking because there was always a voice in my head telling me that my parents couldn't lose another child. Trailer for the Stolen Sister podcast series about the murder of Elizabeth Plunkett in 1976 The bond between siblings is unique and, in many cases, not even death can break this connection. Right now, sisters Kathleen Nolan and Bernie Plunkett are leading a public appeal to reopen the murder investigation into the death of their sister Elizabeth, who was killed in 1976. It was initially believed that Elizabeth's killers, John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, were convicted of her murder nearly 50 years ago, but a parole application from Shaw in 2023 revealed that this was not the case. When the relevant State bodies wouldn't engage with the family, Kathleen and Bernie contacted RTÉ Documentary On One team to create the now streaming podcast series Stolen Sister to get justice for Elizabeth. The long term effects of sibling loss and the lack of discussion around it has rattled around my brain for some time, often with the guilt that accompanies telling someone I have two siblings, when in fact I have three. Dr Heidi Horsley, Executive Director at Open to Hope Foundation and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, says that sibling loss can be minimised because people focus on parents, as research suggests that the worst loss that can happen to a person is the death of a child. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, documentary maker Nicoline Greer on the making of Stolen Sister The flip side of this, she explains, is that siblings tend to be told to be strong for their parents and offer them their support, almost like a form of role reversal. "Sometimes siblings, we don't even feel like we have the right to our loss, because we feel like the focus should be on taking care of our parents," she says. Because sibling loss takes up emotional energy in a family, and there can be a lot of talk, tears and emotion about the sibling that died, she adds it can make surviving siblings feel inadequate. When a child dies, parents can also become anxious that another will also die, and so micromanage their remaining children. The grief experienced by small children can manifest in different ways, Dr Horsley explains: "stomach aches, headaches, fatigue, nightmares, night terrors". Children can regress into habits like bedwetting, being afraid to sleep without a light on or a fear of monsters under their bed. This is because, Horsley says, children no longer view the world as a safe place after their sibling has died. Young children sometimes play with their dead siblings as if they're still alive, like an imaginary friend, despite knowing they're deceased, adds Dr Kristin Hadfield, Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, report on the verdict of 'unlawful killing' from an inquest in Gorey in January 2025 into the death of Elizabeth Plunkett whose family have been waiting 49 years for this inquest to take place Horsley says sibling loss has a tremendous impact regardless of age because, according to research it's the longest living relationship most people will have. "Our parents will only, in contrast spend 40% to 60% of their lives with us, because they usually die before us. So they will spend 40% to 60% versus 80% to 100%," that we spend with siblings. One of the hardest things for young children is the change in the family system, according to Dr Joanne Cacciatore, Professor at Arizona State University. If the eldest child dies and the second sibling finds themselves, at least at home, in the role of the oldest, it can be challenging to their identity. Depending on the circumstances, families can go through the mourning process and move forward, says Dr Christopher Christian, Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, but others struggle more. Celebrations can remind people of their lost sibling, it can feel inappropriate to be marking an occasion, or that the surviving sibling does not deserve to be celebrated, he explains. "There's a kind of depriving oneself of any gratification in light of the loss, and if there was a lot of competitiveness with the sibling that also compounds, I think the mourning." First episode of RTÉ's Stolen Sister documentary Experts suggest that the way a sibling dies impacts the way their surviving sibling processes it. Hadfield says if a child dies unexpectedly or in a way where their sibling does not get to say goodbye, it is associated with a grief that is more prolonged or not as adaptive. However, if a child is involved in the family decision-making process, for example, funeral arrangements or hospital visits, this is linked to more positive outcomes for the child. Overall, Hadfield says, it is vital that parents do not feel as if they have to handle this loss alone. "If the parent is suffering and continues to kind of suffer from mental health problems, then this is going to impact their relationship with their other children as well." She describes the situation as "bi-directional" because the parents can no longer parent in the same way, and surviving children are more likely to be difficult to parent because they are also grieving. The loss of a sibling can also leave people with a deep fear of loss, adds Cacciatore. When surviving siblings find themselves in a relationship with someone they love deeply, they don't want to lose that connection, but this can create "over-reactive states" she explains. Some will become more securely attached to their loved ones fearing that they'll die, but others will become anxious avoidant or avoidant and won't want to connect or feel attached because they understand the risk. Another issue for adult surviving siblings can be whether to have children themselves. Christian says they wonder whether their children will die too, which might explain why some people are hesitant to enter relationships. When a person loses a sibling through a violent and disfiguring death, it can further complicate the healing process, adds Cacciatore. Heidi Horsley's brother died at 17 in a car accident with his cousin. Both men burned to death, she says she had to deal with that trauma before she could manage her grief. "Because what happens in a traumatic loss is you're stuck in the narrative of how they died, and it's in your head playing over and over and over, and you need a safe person to be able to discuss what happened." You know the preciousness of every moment in a different way than others do The loss of a sibling becomes embedded in a family's history, Cacciatore says, even when the loss occurs before the surviving child is born. That being said, she adds that "lineage of grief or pain" as long as people stay conscious, can make them better as human beings, as it brings sensitivity and compassion towards the pain of others. She thinks the loss of her own infant daughter made all her children more compassionate, including her son, who was born three years later. While it can be difficult to find any positives in the above information, Cacciatore's research measuring post-traumatic growth found that "appreciation of life" becomes an outcome, even if it takes time for people to reach that point. "It doesn't happen for a while, but at some point when you're ready, you do value life differently. You know the preciousness of every moment in a different way than others do."
Irish Times
07-07-2025
- Irish Times
‘Ireland's first serial killer' will not face rape charges in Britain
British police have carried out a cold case review into a series of rapes allegedly committed by murderer John Shaw, who is known as 'Ireland's first serial killer'. The review said, however, unless new evidence came to light then Shaw (79) should not face any further charges relating to the attacks carried out in the 1970s. This means Shaw, who is Ireland's longest-serving prisoner, will be a free man if he is successful in reapplying for parole early in 2026. Shaw and accomplice Geoffrey Evans had come to Ireland from the UK with the claimed intention of murdering one woman a week. READ MORE In August 1976 Elizabeth Plunkett (23) was abducted and killed near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. A month later, Galway woman Mary Duffy was kidnapped and murdered by the men. Both women were subjected to extensive sexual violence. The men were caught shortly afterwards and confessed to their crimes. They received a life sentence each for Ms Duffy's murder. However, charges against Shaw relating to Ms Plunkett's murder were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), something which the Plunkett family only became aware of recently. Elizabeth Plunkett's sisters want the investigation into her death to be reopened Before arriving in Ireland, Shaw and Evans were wanted by various British police forces for allegedly raping three victims over the course of five days in Cheshire and Leigh, northwest England. The attacks bore similarities to what happened to Ms Duffy and Ms Plunkett. During one attack, a 15-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped over the course of eight hours. [ Elizabeth Plunkett: How murdered woman's family discovered they were not 'relevant victims' in serial killer case ] As the police manhunt intensified, Evans and Shaw fled to Ireland where they committed burglaries before being arrested and jailed for a year. After their release, they were rearrested by gardaí for extradition to Britain to face the rape charges. However, the men argued they were not the same suspects as those sought by British police and were released on bail. It was then they started their planned murder spree. Evans (68) died in custody in 2012. Shaw remains in Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin. Last August, on learning Shaw was applying for parole, a cold case team from Greater Manchester Police re-examined the rape offences as a priority. Their goal was to determine if Shaw could be finally extradited to Britain if he was successful in his parole bid. The police force said the cold case unit had completed its review and that 'no new developments have been made' in relation to the case. 'Should any further evidence or information come to light, further reviews would take place and the appropriate actions taken where necessary,' a spokesman said. He clarified that this meant that unless new evidence came to light then the rape cases were in effect closed. The police force did not go into detail on why it was not pursing the rape charges. There are many reasons historical prosecutions cannot go ahead, including the death of witnesses and the loss of vital evidence. Ms Plunkett's sisters, Kathleen Nolan and Bernadette Barry, have called on the Irish authorities to reopen the investigation into her death, with a view to securing a conviction against Shaw and ensuring he is not released. In response to queries, An Garda Síochána said it was up to the DPP to decide on reopening the case. A DPP spokeswoman said it does not comment on individual cases, but said that in general cases cannot be reopened without 'a new Garda investigation file which identified sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution of an identified suspect'. The family hopes to gather enough new evidence to reopen the case. Last month, RTÉ began airing a podcast on Ms Plunkett's case. Called Stolen Sister, it has led to multiple women coming forward saying they were targeted by men in the mid-1970s who may have been Shaw and Evans.
