40 - Chaos, Neglect & Abuse: The Killing of Melissa Mahon

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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True Crime, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2019

⏱️ 70 minutes

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Summary

In September of 2006, Melissa Mahon (14) went missing in Sligo Town. She was supposed to in the care of the Health Service, but she had developed a habit of running away. That summer, she had met some new friends. The Dunbar girls. And through them, their father, Ronnie Dunbar. Nearly two years later, Melissa's remains would be found in the nearby River Bonet after a shocking confession of her friend. Featured promo this week is from our friends over at Moms and Murder! Go check these ladies out! National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/donate/ The Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org/ 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: Bronagh Murphy, The Killing of Melissa Mahon and the trial of Ronnie Dunbar (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2009) Available to purchase here DPP -v- Ronald McManus (aka Ronald Dunbar) [2011] IECCA 32 Abigail Rieley, “Tragic Melissa's troubled existence” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/tragic-melissas-troubled-existence-26531504.html ( 26 April 2009) Child protections Plans from Citizen's Information (UK) https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/children-and-young-people/child-abuse/local-authority-involvement/child-abuse-child-protection-plans/ Harry Keany, 'Dunbar's daughter tells of her years of hell” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligochampion/news/dunbars-daughter-tells-of-her-years-of-hell-27591675.html (23 May 2012) Fiach Kelly, “Life and terrible death of a teenager” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/life-and-terrible-death-of-a-teenager-26539443.html (28 May 2009) “Recorded Conversations” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligochampion/news/recorded-conversations-27564496.html (20 May 2009) Dan Buckley, “Cool and calculating, he preyed on victim” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/icrime/cool-and-calculating-he-preyed-on-victim-96167.html (11 July 2009) “Dunbar gets life for killing teen” from RTE.ie https://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0710/119420-mahonm/ (10 July 2009) “Sister told me that father murdered girl, says accused's daughter” from Breakingnews.ie https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/sister-told-me-that-father-murdered-girl-says-accuseds-daughter-408816.html (29 April 2009) “McManus sentenced to life in jail for 2006 killing of Sligo teenager” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mcmanus-sentenced-to-life-in-jail-for-2006-killing-of-sligo-teenager-1.697198 (11 July 2009) Paddy Clancy, “Melissa Mahon inquest told of desperate attempts to keep her in the caee of the HSE” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/melissa-mahon-inquest-told-of-desperate-attempts-to-keep-her-in-the-care-of-the-hse-1.1417728 (5 June 2013) Harry Keaney, “Dunbar's daughter tells of her years of hell” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligochampion/news/dunbars-daughter-tells-of-her-years-of-hell-27591675.html (23 May 2012)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the mens rea podcast and this is the story of Melissa Madden. Oh, Mary and Frederick Mann were from Sligo and had moved to England in 1969.
0:47.0	They married and had 10 children.
0:51.0	Melissa, their youngest, was born on the 10th of March, 1992, nearly exactly two years after her older sister and the 9th matting child, Leanna.
1:02.0	The family had their ups and downs, and two of the Mathen
1:06.5	children had been placed on the Child Protection Register in the UK which safeguards
1:11.7	children deemed at risk by the local authorities and three of the kids
1:16.0	had at some point been in foster care although one of these days was only overnight.
1:26.7	The family often visited home in Sligo and had actually returned home to live once before for a number of years in the 80s. But when Mary Mahon's father died in 2005, she returned home and decided that she wanted to stay.
1:38.0	Mary thought that Sligo would be a far better environment for the girls to grow up in, and she was particularly worried
1:45.4	about what she perceived as the growing threat of terrorism in London. She asked her husband to come
1:51.6	home and to bring the younger children with them.
1:55.7	So the man's moved back to Sligo with Leanna, Melissa and their 19 year old Yvonne
2:01.8	and moved to the Rathbroughan Park estate.
2:05.6	Leanna and Melissa made friends on the road and in school.
2:09.8	Two of their friends were Samantha and Heidi Dunbar, who lived in Number 64 Rathbroughan Park.
2:17.6	They were also newly arrived from the UK.
2:20.8	They had an older sister too, Shirley, who was 15.
2:24.0	Samantha was 14 and Heidi was 13, just like Melissa.
2:28.0	Heidi and Melissa were in the same class,
2:31.0	and though Samantha was initially wary of the matting girl
2:34.4	Heidi and Melissa became fast friends. Soon all three girls hung around together.
2:41.2	It's not certain who was a bad influence on who, but it would seem that together the three of them were happy to get up to no good.
	...

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