Downfall | 12
Kinahans Downfall
Nicola Bardon
4.8 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Sean McGovern prepares to spend the best years of his life in prison, this episode reflects on the police work which took him down, and the response of the Kirwan family to his crimes.
Reconstructing the encrypted messages which implicated the Cartel thug in the plots to kill Noel Kirwan and James 'Mago' Gately, listeners will hear why no amount of distance could save McGovern from justice.
Donna and Kristopher respond to his sentence handed down at the Special Criminal Court this week exclusively for this podcast, and reveal why they hope their dad's murder will in turn bring justice to the other families destroyed by the Kinahans.
And what now, for the Cartel leadership?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 1992, Frank McCann killed his wife Esther and daughter Jessica |
| 0:05.0 | because he feared a dark secret was about to come out. |
| 0:08.5 | Now the former swim coach is back looking for parole |
| 0:10.8 | despite never acknowledging his brutal crimes. |
| 0:14.1 | The Irish Sun's Nobody Heard Them Cry podcast |
| 0:16.3 | is the story of Esther and Jessica, |
| 0:18.4 | the man who killed them, |
| 0:19.9 | and the two families desperate to keep him in jail for life. |
| 0:23.8 | Download Nobody Heard Them Cry Today. |
| 0:30.8 | My dad would absolutely be embarrassed for his life |
| 0:32.9 | that somebody like him killed him. |
| 0:34.7 | Like you're seeing what he was like, |
| 0:35.8 | he was running around playing catmouse. |
| 0:37.9 | Like, he tried to put the trackers on someone else's car and they failed at that and had come back and do her again. Like, it was like they were doing three takes for a movie. That's the way I looked. I couldn't believe it. I was just laughing on all in the court. I couldn't believe that anyone would be that stupid. Ten years ago, few would have dared speak about a Kinnahann cartel boss like this. |
| 1:00.2 | In 2016, when they were deciding who lived and who died, |
| 1:05.2 | the all-powerful Irish mobsters made the rules. |
| 1:09.2 | We get my go this week and we'd be laughing. |
| 1:11.5 | The sooner the better we drop one of these, mate. |
| 1:14.1 | I feel a bit of luck, humming. |
| 1:15.7 | The chat was casual. |
| 1:18.0 | Informal stuff between pals as if they were organising a night out. |
| 1:22.8 | But the heavily encrypted messages pinging their way around this group of lads, |
... |
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