29 - The murders of Thomas Murray & life sentences

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

GoLoud

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2018

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The small town of Ballygar was shocked when 73 year old bachelor farmer William Mannion was found stabbed to death on his kitchen floor. A local youth was responsible. He was brought to trial, found guilty and received the mandatory life sentence. How was it then, that 17 years later, the same man would be able to kill another elderly resident of Ballygar, Nancy Nolan (84) in a senseless and motiveless crime? This week, we look at the murders committed by Thomas Murray in East Galway and how life sentences in Ireland don't really mean life. Our podcast Promo this week is from the new podcast Holocaust: Lost Voices which brings you stories you may not have heard from the darkest chapter of Europe's history. Be sure to subscribe today! Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com. Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sources: Tom Connolly, Detective: A Life Upholding the Law (Dublin: O'Brien Press, 2015) Purchase here Barry Cummins, Lifers (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 2004) Purchase here The Olden Report, http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/OldenReport.pdf/Files/OldenReport.pdf (April 2001) “Man jailed for murder committed while on day release” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-jailed-for-murder-committed-while-on-day-release-1.1119595 6 December 2000 Ciaran Tierney, “Convicted murdered is questioned about taxi driver killing” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/convicted-murderer-is-questioned-about-taxi-driver-killing-1.317571 13 July 2001 Martha Kearns, “Prison chief warned murderer would 'kill again'” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/prison-chief-warned-murderer-would-kill-again-26079544.html 7 July 2001 Lorna Higgins, “Family of murdered woman believe gardai talking to the wrong man” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/family-of-murdered-woman-believe-gardai-talking-to-the-wrong-man-1.1128374 30 November 2002 Declan Tierney, “New Leads in 20 year old murder” in The Connacht Tribune http://claregalway.info/nuacht/news/2017/12/new-leads-20-year-old-murder/ 14 December 2017 http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/criminal_law/criminal_trial/types_of_sentences.html#le06e6 Conor Gallagher, “New 12-year minimum sentence for murder to be set” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/new-12-year-minimum-sentence-for-murder-to-be-set-1.3490994 10 May 2018 Parole Bill (2016) https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2016/29/ “Sentence Review Group” The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/sentence-review-group-1.44488 30 April 1996

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the mens rea podcast and this is the story of Thomas Murray. Oh, you know.
0:13.0	Oh, you know.
0:15.0	Oh, you know.
0:17.0	Oh, you know. Oh, you know.
0:20.0	Oh, Galway in the west of Ireland is one of the most popular places to visit in Ireland, both for those
0:45.1	abroad and for other Irish people. It's a place full of art and culture and the scenery is
0:51.4	iconically Irish.
0:53.0	The east of the county is less travelled, despite its historic ruins
0:58.0	and lush green fields.
1:00.0	Even less visited is the border between Galway and Roscommon, where you'll also find
1:05.5	Bogland interspersed with the pastures, and it's there you'll find the small village of Baligar.
1:12.3	From the large square at its center it's passed as a prominent market
1:16.0	town in the area can be seen and it's been a focal point of that area for a long time.
1:22.0	And it's been holding a carnival since 1945 with a fun fair, sports tournaments, a dance and
1:28.2	so on, and it was a feature of village life.
1:31.9	It's a fairly typical rural Irish town with farming and Gaelic games, bog cutting and a
1:38.1	tight-knit community being its main features. William or Willie Manion was in 1981 an elderly farmer living alone about six miles north of
1:50.4	Baligar in Craig on the Galway-Roskaman border. He was 73 and had never married.
1:57.0	He had lived with one of his five brothers, Tom, and both had worked the family farm until Tom's death.
2:04.0	Three other brothers had emigrated to the US,
2:08.0	another brother and his only sister had moved to other parts of Ireland.
2:12.0	He was a hard worker and well known in the community.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from GoLoud, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of GoLoud and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.