Bonus - Kilkenny City Cold Cases
Mens Rea: A true crime podcast
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4.7 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
This episode was originally published as a Patreon exclusive on 5 May 2019.
Two women were murdered in the 1980's in Kilkenny. They were unconnected, and unsolved. It would be years before the two murders were "rediscovered" by the Garda Cold Case Unit - the National Serious Crime Review Unit.
Appeals for information were made to the public, and now, 30 years on, there have been developments in the cases....
Music:
Kevin McLeod, Quinns Song : The Dance Begins. (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Sources:
“Man (52) due to be charged in connection with murder of Ann Nancy Smith in 2987” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/man-52-due-to-be-charged-in-connection-with-murder-of-ann-nancy-smith-in-1987-34113928.html (15 October 2015)
Natasha Reid, “Cold-case trial hears widow already dead when house set on fire” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/cold-case-trial-hears-widow-already-dead-when-house-set-on-fire-1.3023788 (24 March 2017)
Natasha Reid, “Kilkenny murder trial: Nancy Smyth subjected to head injuries and strangled before fire started in her home” in The Kilkenny People https://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/home/241784/kilkenny-murder-trial-nancy-smyth-subjected-to-head-injuries-and-strangled-before-fire-started-in-her-home.html (24 March 2017)
Jim Cusack, “Killer repeatedly given bail despite threatening witnesses and stabbing his brother – after admitting murder” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/killer-repeatedly-given-bail-despite-threatening-witnesses-and-stabbing-his-brother-after-admitting-murder-35626554.html (16 April 2017)
Sandra Murphy, “How murderer of pensioner Nancy Smyth was fianlly caught after 30 years” from Evoke.ie https://extra.ie/2017/04/20/news/real-life/how-detectives-cracked-cold-case-of-murder-of-pensioner-nancy-smyth (20 April 2017)
Eoin Reynolds, “'Closure' for family in cold-case” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/closure-for-family-in-cold-case-murder-447831.html (14 April 2017)
Natasha Reid, “Bible study man strangled widow and set fire to her home, cold case murder trial hears” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/bible-study-man-strangled-widow-and-set-fire-to-her-home-coldcase-murder-trial-hears-35555465.html (22 March 2017)
Natasha Reid, “Cold case trial hears of widow's murder 30 years ago” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cold-case-trial-hears-of-widows-murder-30-years-ago-35557331.html (23 March 2017)
Eoin Reynolds, “Woman died 'callouss and violent death', murder trial hears” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/criminal-court/woman-died-callous-and-violent-death-murder-trial-hears-1.3045399 (11 April 2017)
Ruaidhri Giblin, “Appeal dismissed” Convicted murderer confessed to people 'left right and centre' to killing woman 30 years ago as life sentence upheld” in The Irish Sun https://www.thesun.ie/news/2466416/convicted-murderer-confessed-to-people-left-right-and-centre-to-killing-woman-30-years-ago-as-life-sentence-upheld/ (19 April 2018)
Ruaidhri Giblin, “'Cold-case' killer moves to appeal conviction for murder of woman in Kilkenny 30 years ago” in The Kilkenny People https://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/home/295419/cold-case-killer-moves-to-appeal-conviction-for-murder-of-woman-in-kilkenny-30-years-ago.html (5 February 2018)
Conor Lally, “Gardai identify suspect in cold case murder of Marie Tierney in 1984” in The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/garda%C3%AD-identify-suspect-in-cold-case-murder-of-marie-tierney-in-1984-1.3681898 (31 October 2018)
Wayne O'Conner, “Family of murdered Marie believe gardai closer to finding killer” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/family-of-murdered-marie-believe-gardai-closer-to-finding-killer-37489911.html (4 November 2018)
Barry Cummins, “Family of murder victim Marie Tierney speak of ongoing anguish” from RTE.ie https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/1115/1011234-marie-tierney/ (15 November 2018)
Cormac O'Keefe, “Garda review of one unsolved murder unearths a second case” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/garda-review-of-one-unsolved-murder-unearths-second-case-882462.html (1 November 2018)
Paul Hosford, “Gardai appeal for information into 1984 murder of mother of two” in TheJournal.ie https://www.thejournal.ie/marie-tierney-murder-appeal-3686145-Nov2017/ (8 November 2017)
Press Release: Garda Update – Marie Tierney Murder Investigation from Garda.ie https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2018/october/update-marie-tierney-murder-investigation.html
“Cold Case Breakthrough” Potential witness in Marie Tierney murder investigation comes forward” from KilkennyNow.ie https://kilkennynow.ie/breaking-potential-witness-in-marie-tierney-murder-investigation-comes-forward/ (20 December 2018)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the mens rea podcast, and this is the story of the Kilkenny's Kilkenny is a beautiful little medieval city in the southeast of Ireland, which straddles the river |
| 0:47.6 | Nor. We call it a city, and it's had its charter for over 400 years, but its population is about 25,000 today. |
| 0:57.6 | It's a lively place known for pubs and restaurants and is often the choice of a place to go for |
| 1:03.0 | hen and stagnites. A large castle sits at one end of the town and a cathedral with a round |
| 1:09.4 | tower at the other. In the middle where the |
| 1:12.1 | old monastery used to be is a brewery, the home of Smithicks. Today, there's a yearly comedy |
| 1:18.4 | festival and it's the home of the Kilkenny Design Centre, showcasing modern Irish craftsmanship. |
| 1:25.4 | In the 80s, there was more of a small town feel to the place, and there were |
| 1:29.5 | certainly less people living in and around the city, but it was still fairly busy. Its pubs were |
| 1:35.6 | busy more with locals than now, and like it so often was, there were familiar faces of |
| 1:41.7 | regulars in and out all the time. One such pub was O'Gorman's, or |
| 1:47.4 | the Kilkenny House, on John Street, on the east side of the River Nor. From the looks of it |
| 1:53.5 | today, it can't have changed very much. It's a traditional pub, an open fire, old Guinness and |
| 2:00.0 | road signs on the walls, and jerseys |
| 2:02.5 | from the Kilkenny hurling team framed and hung in pride of place. |
| 2:06.9 | The closest thing you might get to food is a packet of crisps or peanuts, and there's often |
| 2:11.9 | live music. |
| 2:13.8 | It's a welcoming, homie kind of pub. In 1987, one of the regulars to the pub was Anne Smith, but everyone called her Nancy. |
| 2:23.6 | She was 69 and lived in a little house that was just a few minutes walk away from the pub, |
| 2:28.5 | down a little lane and on to Wolfton Street. |
| 2:31.7 | She'd lived there with her husband, but he had died the year before, |
| 2:35.7 | and so she was on her own now, accepting her yellow lab. But she was well known in the pub, |
... |
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