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!


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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