34 - The murder of Una Lynsky, Wrongful Convictions & fight for Justice
In October 1971, on a rural lane south of the village of Ratoath, Co Meath, Una Lynsky disappeared while walking a short distance from a bus stop to her home. Around that time, screams were heard and a strange car was seen driving up and down the lane. But three local lads, Dick Donnelly, Martin Kerrigan, and Martin Conmey found that they were the ones who had drawn the attention of the notorious Murder Squad of the Garda Siochana.
By the end of the year, two young people from Porterstown Lane would be dead. Two trials would follow and a series of appeals to try and clear a man's name of guilt that did not belong to him.
Our featured promo this week is from good friends, All Crime No Cattle (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-crime-no-cattle/id1327729036) . Erin and Shea are experts at the conversational true crime podcast, and back it up with phenomenal research and production. Go subscribe today!
Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mensreapod/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/MensReaPod) !
With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com (https://www.patreon.com/MensReaPod) .
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
Sources:
The Criminal Justice Act 1993 (available here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/6/enacted/en/print)
DPP -V- MARTIN CONMEY, [2012] IECCA 75 (2012)
Sarah McInerney, Where No One Can Hear You Scream (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 2008) Purchase here (https://www.gillbooks.ie/true-crime/true-crime/where-no-one-can-hear-you-scream)
Michael Clifford, “Martin Conmey walks the long, hard, road to justice” in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/michael-clifford/martin-conmey-walks-the-long-hard-road-to-justice-430703.html (16 November 2016)
Mary Carolan, “State apologises to man jailed in miscarriage of justice” in the Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/state-apologises-to-man-jailed-in-miscarriage-of-justice-1.2868751 (15 November 2016)
Aodhan O'Faoilan, “An innocent man; Martin Conmey, 63, was jailed for the manslaughter of his neighbour in 1972... yesterday his name was finally cleared after a 'miscarriage of justice'.. The Free Library https://www.thefreelibrary.com/An+innocent+man%3b+Martin+Conmey%2c+63%2c+was+jailed+for+the+manslaughter...-a0376505736 (2014)
Michael Clifford, “40 years waiting to clear his name ' in The Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/profiles/40-years-waiting-to-clear-his-name-199954.html (7 July 2012)
https://www.townlands.ie/meath/ratoath/rathbeggan/dunshaughlin/porterstown/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_in_Ireland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratoath