Shadows of Éire | An Irish True Crime Podcast

On the morning of 15 January 1998, a party of armed Gardaí arrived at a flat on New Brunswick Street, Dublin, to execute a search warrant. They announced themselves. Nobody answered. Detectives John Mulligan, John Gantly and Fearghal Pattwell were about to find out why. This episode is part of the Scott Medal Series, honouring Gardaí recognised for extraordinary bravery.

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On the early morning of December 22, 1995, 41-year-old civil servant Marilyn Rynn stepped off a late-night bus in Blanchardstown, Dublin, following a Christmas workplace celebration. Seeking to escape the sub-zero temperatures, she took a short pedestrian route through Tolka Valley Park—an unlit municipal greenway minutes from her front door. She never made it home.

Sixteen days later, a specialized search team located her body hidden within dense, icy thickets. What followed became a turning point in Irish criminal history.

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For generations, unwritten laws and "fair play" governed conflicts within the Irish Traveller community. But when an old-school family dispute collided with modern smartphone culture and digital algorithms, the rules evaporated. In this episode of Shadows of Èire, we dissect the terrifying escalation of the McGinley and Hannifin conflict—a multi-jurisdictional blood feud fought not just with blades, guns, and chemical weapons, but via viral "call-out" videos that pushed the state's justice system to its absolute limits.

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The podcast has officially been nominated in the True Crime Podcast category at The All Ireland Podcast Awards! 

We have made it to the final 6!!!

Nov 11th 2026

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On November 23, 2023, an unprovoked knife attack outside Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square East in Dublin shocked the nation.

In this episode we examine the case of 52-year-old Riyad Bouchaker—from the precise timeline of the assault and the heroic civilian interventions to the three-week criminal trial at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court and the political fallout that followed.

Discover the story of childcare worker Leanne Flynn, who repeatedly placed her body between the attacker and young children, and Brazilian delivery driver Caio Benicio, who used his motorcycle helme...

To society, they are a spectacle of leather and roaring engines. To the state, they are a highly disciplined network bound by an iron code of silence. The 1% Archives explores the rise, infiltration, and legal takedowns of outlaw motorcycle clubs across Ireland. From the rural parishes of Munster to the high-stakes financial seizures of the capital, this episode details the moments where internal omertà cracked under the pressure of homicide investigations and state asset raids. This is true crime built on absolute public record.

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In April 2022, the quiet coastal town of Sligo, Ireland, was shaken by a terrifying spree of hate-driven attacks targeting gay men through location-based dating applications. Over four days, 22-year-old Yousef Palani targeted Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in their own homes, while inflicting a brutal attack on survivor Anthony Burke.

Yousef Palani Sligo⁠, ⁠Aidan Moffitt⁠, ⁠Michael Snee⁠, ⁠Anthony Burke survivor⁠, ⁠Sligo murders true crime⁠, ⁠Ireland Grindr attacks⁠.

When a man is found fleeing down a country road in County Meath with an iron chain padlocked to his wrist, investigators uncover a harrowing story of alleged domestic servitude and modern exploitation.

In this episode of Shadows of Éire, we look behind the closed doors of a Ballymun flat and a rural yard to examine the unsettling mother-and-son dynamic of Jean Kearney and Mark Kearney. What began as a local drug debt spiraled into a landmark case that nearly made legal history as the state's first-ever human trafficking conviction.

During the record-breaking summer heatwave of 1976, two English fugitives arrived in Ireland evading UK rape charges—carrying out a terrifying pact to abduct and murder "a woman a week." What followed was the most complex multi-county police pursuit in modern Irish history.

In this episode of Shadows of Éire, we examine the harrowing 1976 spree of Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw and pay tribute to the lives of 23-year-old Elizabeth Plunkett, abducted from Brittas Bay, County Wicklow, and 24-year-old Mary Duffy, taken from Castlebar.

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How does a Roman Catholic altar boy from working-class Dublin, trained to save lives as an intensive care nurse, become a suicide bomber for ISIS? In this episode, we trace the bizarre, dark, and highly public trajectory of Terence Kelly (aka "Taliban Terry"). From a Saudi bootlegging ring to a rural cottage in Longford, we explore the domestic isolation and digital radicalization that led a brilliant man to volunteer for the Islamic State’s formalized "martyrdom register"—and examine the military reality of his final moments in the apocalyptic Battle of Mosul.

In April 1964, a quiet farmhouse in County Cork became the scene of a devastating crime that shocked the local community. Local man George Applebe was brutally murdered. What followed was a complex legal saga governed by newly passed laws, leading to a trial—and an extraordinary life sentence—that would span nearly six decades. Listen to the full story on Shadows of Èire.

This episode explores the tragic 2007 St. Stephen’s Night killing of Barry Maguire in Ashbourne, Co. Meath, detailing how a fatal street altercation escalated into localized pipe-bomb intimidation and entangled the perpetrators—specifically Derek "Del Boy" Hutch and Alan Donohue—within the broader landscape of Irish crime history.

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For decades, Ireland told itself a comfortable lie: that neutrality was a shield, and the shadows of global espionage would simply pass the island by. But from the aisles of a suburban Dublin shopping center to the historic quadrangles of Trinity College, the Kremlin saw something else entirely—an open door. Tonight, we trace forty years of cold-war stings, deep-cover "Illegals," and the modern political warfare that shattered the illusion of Irish isolation.

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In this episode, we unpack one of the most extraordinary stories in cryptocurrency history: the case of Clifton Collins and his lost Bitcoin fortune.

Between 2011 and 2012, former postman Clifton Collins purchased 6,000 Bitcoins using proceeds from cannabis cultivation. To secure his growing digital wealth, he distributed the funds across 12 separate wallet accounts (500 BTC each) and printed the private keys onto paper. Seeking a safe hiding spot at his rented house in Cornamona, County Galway, he concealed the paper inside the cap of an aluminum fishing rod case.

However, when Collins...

Daniel McAnaspie was a vulnerable 17-year-old boy in the care of the Irish state who went missing from Finglas, Dublin, in the early hours of January 1, 2010. After a grueling five-month search, his remains were discovered by a farmer in a drainage ditch in Tolka Valley Park, Blanchardstown.

In April 2017, armed Gardaí smashed through the door of a quiet safehouse in West Dublin. Sitting on a couch inside was an elderly, bearded man who looked like an eccentric geography teacher. In reality, he was Imre "The Butcher" Arakas—one of Europe’s most elusive and lethal contract killers, flown into Ireland by the Kinahan Cartel to execute a high-profile target with a single, silenced shot to the head.

In this episode, Tim Warburton traces the extraordinary, chilling forty-year journey of a man who began his life as an idealistic, anti-Soviet rebel leaping out o...

In 2017, an ordinary afternoon in Dublin’s Santry turned into a waking nightmare when a teenager attempted to pull a toddler into the undergrowth. When police searched her Ballymun bedroom, they didn't just find a troubled adolescent—they uncovered a chillingly meticulous, step-by-step operational manual for murder. Host Tim Warburton details the case of Stephanie Smith, a highly intelligent chameleonic predator whose capacity for manipulation turned a multi-million euro high-security facility into a playground for further crime.

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On July 7, 1980, an armed bank heist in Ballaghaderreen ended in a fatal collision and gun battle at Shannon's Cross. Explore the tragedy of Detective Garda John Morley and Garda Henry Byrne, the Gold Scott Medals awarded for their ultimate sacrifice, and the massive manhunt that followed.

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In September 1977, nine-year-old Tommy Hayden vanished from state care in Ireland. His captor was John Dwyer, a newly hired trainee care worker at Madonna House who had already been warned about his unhealthy fixation on the young boy.

What followed was a dark, 17-day journey across England and Scotland. Posing as father and son, Dwyer moved Tommy through transit hubs and hotels until their arrival at Edinburgh's Royal British Hotel on Princes Street, where a dangerous fantasy collapsed into tragedy.

In this episode of Shadows of Èire, we reconstruct t...

In 2006, a wealthy Clare property developer’s family received a chilling visit — a self-proclaimed hitman, holding proof of a murder contract taken out on all three of them. The trail leads through an anonymous dark web forum, a Las Vegas con artist posing as an assassin, a sting operation in the Irish countryside, and a digital fingerprint that couldn’t be erased. But even after an arrest, one question remains unanswered: who was “Lying Eyes”? And was the man calling himself a hitman really as harmless as the courts concluded?

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When dense, lethal smoke filled a Dublin apartment building, one off-duty forklift operator turned frontline officer didn't wait for backup. Wrapping a wet rag around his face, Garda Thomas Declan Murray crawled on his belly into the blackness to pull a dying man from the flames. Years later, facing a desperate, armed raider in a dark room, Murray took a heavy handgun straight to the skull—and kept fighting. 

This is the extraordinary true story of Garda Declan Murray, a double recipient of the Scott Bronze Medal whose unbreakable resolve and raw courage made him...

In 2005, Irene White was murdered in her own kitchen in Dundalk — stabbed 34 times in an attack first mistaken for a burglary gone wrong. It would take 14 years, two confessions, and a phone call from Australia to uncover the truth: this wasn’t random. It was a contract killing. Doorman Anthony Lambe and security firm owner Niall Power are both serving life sentences — but the man they say ordered Irene’s death has never been charged. This is the story of the Ice House murder, one of Ireland’s most disturbing unsolved contract killings

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Cork, 1981: Nora Sheehan disappears after a night wandering her own neighbourhood, and is found six days later in a West Cork wood. Gardaí identify a suspect within days, charge him with murder — and then lose the case entirely when their key witness dies before trial. Noel Long walks free for 41 years. This episode traces the collapse of the original 1981 investigation, the DNA breakthrough that reopened it in 2021, and the 2023 trial that made it the oldest murder prosecution in Irish history — including the confession, the missing evidence, and the appeal still pending in 2026.

In June 1973, seven-year-old John Horgan disappeared from his home in Palmerstown, Dublin. What began as a search for a missing child would end with a horrifying discovery in the attic of a neighbouring house.

The teenager responsible, Lorcan Bale, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to John’s murder, receiving a life sentence. But because there was no contested murder trial, many questions surrounding the crime were never publicly examined in the way they might have been.

The case has subsequently become associated with claims of Satanism, occult practices and a possible ritual murder. But wh...

In 1963 a young girl, Hazel Mullen, was murdered and dismembered in The Green Tureen restaurant in Dublin. Her 22 year old boyfriend Shan Mohangi is a student in the Royal College of Surgeons and quickly becomes the main suspect. But will her mother get the justice she deserves for the murder of her 16 year old daughter? Dive into this episode of Shadows of Éire to find out.

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In this episode Shadows of Éire unravels the harrowing case of Barbie Kardashian. From an unprovoked violent assault on a care worker to explicit threats against her own family, this case forced Ireland’s legal, judicial, and correctional systems into uncharted territory. We examine the garda investigation, the Limerick Circuit Court trials under Judge Tom O’Donnell, the fierce public debate surrounding prison placement, and the chilling post-release statements that left a community on edge.

Listener discretion is strongly advised due to graphic descriptions of violent threats and assault.

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At quarter past three on a freezing December morning, a call comes over the radio: people are in the River Liffey, swept away by a fast, dark current. Among the responding officers on patrol is Colm Finnerty—a 23-year-old student garda whose only official job that night is to watch and learn.

When the situation at the quay wall rapidly deteriorates, Finnerty is forced to make a split-second decision that tests the absolute limits of human endurance. What begins as a routine placement shift turns into a harrowing struggle against cold, panic, and time it...

On Halloween 1973, the IRA pulled off one of the most audacious prison breaks in history, landing a hijacked helicopter inside the tiny exercise yard of Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

In this episode, we dive deep into the real story behind the "Up and Away" escape. We separate myth from reality as we explore the mysterious "Mr. Leonard"—the man in the white suit who chartered the flight at gunpoint—and trace the dramatic actions of pilot Captain Thompson Boyes under pressure. Plus, we uncover the wild aftermath inside the prison walls, the explosive Portlaoise breakout, and the dramat...

When Dublin detectives raided a secure flat in Rathmines following a public street execution, they expected a routine gang hideout. Instead, they uncovered a shadow fortress of hostage rooms, extortion ledgers, and ancient blood oaths. This week, Shadows of Éire investigates the terrifying machinery of the Wo Shing Wo and 14K syndicates in Ireland, and the unique legal battle the state fought to break through a cultural wall of absolute secrecy.

Special thanks to Laura Raythorn for her help in the reviewing and editing of this episode.

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Broadford, County Clare, 1923. A guard barely a year into the job is stopped on a lonely road by two armed men. Robbery turns to attempted murder — marched toward a laneway, a gun pressed to his chest, given five minutes to live. What he does next earns him a place in history: the first-ever recipient of the garda’s highest bravery honour, the Scott Medal. Part of our Scott Medal Series.

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In February 2011, the quiet sands of Dollymount Strand in Dublin returned a horrific secret: a human arm, cleanly severed, with its identifying tattoos deliberately sliced away. Through international DNA tracking, the limb was identified as belonging to James Nolan, a notorious convicted predator from Finglas who had vanished shortly after his release from prison. 

For six agonizing years, the case remained frozen in time. Investigators chased whispers through Dublin's criminal underworld, tracking theories of gangland executions, drug debts, and vigilante justice—but every lead hit a wall of silence. 

Then, in November 2016, a sudden tragedy in C...

What happens when the one person legally sworn to protect you on the open sea becomes your greatest threat? This week, Shadows of Éire unpacks the horrifying 1828 tragedy of the Mary Russell. Driven mad by sleep deprivation and religious monomania, Captain William Stewart became convinced his loyal Irish crew was plotting a mutiny. Using his absolute authority, he trapped, bound, and slaughtered seven of his men. We dive deep into the harrowing eyewitness accounts of the surviving cabin boys, the gruesome forensic discovery in Cobh, and the Sensational Cork courtroom battle that redefined the legal boundary between cold-blooded murder a...

Armed only with a tiny wooden punt and a small outboard motor, two West Cork officers ventured into pitch-black, tempestuous waters to save five trapped neighbors from a splintering ship. Explore the dramatic narrative of two rural officers who risked everything against the raw, terrifying power of nature

In January 2008, 18-year-old Marioara Rostas vanished from a rain-slicked Dublin city center street corner in broad daylight. For four agonizing winters, her family was met with structural apathy and a wall of gangland silence, completely unaware that her body lay hidden in a shallow grave high up in the frozen peaks of the Wicklow mountains.

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