Shadows of Éire | An Irish True Crime Podcast Archiv

On July 7, 1980, an armed bank heist in Ballaghaderreen ended in a fatal collision and gun battle at Shannon's Cross. Explore the tragedy of Detective Garda John Morley and Garda Henry Byrne, the Gold Scott Medals awarded for their ultimate sacrifice, and the massive manhunt that followed.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

In September 1977, nine-year-old Tommy Hayden vanished from state care in Ireland. His captor was John Dwyer, a newly hired trainee care worker at Madonna House who had already been warned about his unhealthy fixation on the young boy.

What followed was a dark, 17-day journey across England and Scotland. Posing as father and son, Dwyer moved Tommy through transit hubs and hotels until their arrival at Edinburgh's Royal British Hotel on Princes Street, where a dangerous fantasy collapsed into tragedy.

In this episode of Shadows of Èire, we reconstruct the timeline of Dwyer’s unvetted recruitment, the 17-day disappearance, the Scottish High Court trial, and how the state closed the door on a public inquiry.

Keywords: Irish True Crime, Madonna House, John Dwyer, Edinburgh Hotel Case, Dublin 1977, Historical Homicide, Child Protection Failures, Cold Case Archive.

In 2006, a wealthy Clare property developer’s family received a chilling visit — a self-proclaimed hitman, holding proof of a murder contract taken out on all three of them. The trail leads through an anonymous dark web forum, a Las Vegas con artist posing as an assassin, a sting operation in the Irish countryside, and a digital fingerprint that couldn’t be erased. But even after an arrest, one question remains unanswered: who was “Lying Eyes”? And was the man calling himself a hitman really as harmless as the courts concluded?

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR OFFER FOR LISTENERS:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get over 70% off NordVPN + extra bonus months free by using our link:

https://nordvpn.com/SHADOWS

Promo Code: SHADOWS

(Includes a 30-day risk-free money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting independent Irish true crime!

When dense, lethal smoke filled a Dublin apartment building, one off-duty forklift operator turned frontline officer didn't wait for backup. Wrapping a wet rag around his face, Garda Thomas Declan Murray crawled on his belly into the blackness to pull a dying man from the flames. Years later, facing a desperate, armed raider in a dark room, Murray took a heavy handgun straight to the skull—and kept fighting. 

This is the extraordinary true story of Garda Declan Murray, a double recipient of the Scott Bronze Medal whose unbreakable resolve and raw courage made him a legend on the streets of North Dublin.

In 2005, Irene White was murdered in her own kitchen in Dundalk — stabbed 34 times in an attack first mistaken for a burglary gone wrong. It would take 14 years, two confessions, and a phone call from Australia to uncover the truth: this wasn’t random. It was a contract killing. Doorman Anthony Lambe and security firm owner Niall Power are both serving life sentences — but the man they say ordered Irene’s death has never been charged. This is the story of the Ice House murder, one of Ireland’s most disturbing unsolved contract killings

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR OFFER FOR LISTENERS:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get over 70% off NordVPN + extra bonus months free by using our link:

https://nordvpn.com/SHADOWS

Promo Code: SHADOWS

(Includes a 30-day risk-free money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting independent Irish true crime!

Cork, 1981: Nora Sheehan disappears after a night wandering her own neighbourhood, and is found six days later in a West Cork wood. Gardaí identify a suspect within days, charge him with murder — and then lose the case entirely when their key witness dies before trial. Noel Long walks free for 41 years. This episode traces the collapse of the original 1981 investigation, the DNA breakthrough that reopened it in 2021, and the 2023 trial that made it the oldest murder prosecution in Irish history — including the confession, the missing evidence, and the appeal still pending in 2026.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR OFFER FOR LISTENERS:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get over 70% off NordVPN + extra bonus months free by using our link:

https://nordvpn.com/SHADOWS

Promo Code: SHADOWS

(Includes a 30-day risk-free money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting independent Irish true crime!

In June 1973, seven-year-old John Horgan disappeared from his home in Palmerstown, Dublin. What began as a search for a missing child would end with a horrifying discovery in the attic of a neighbouring house.

The teenager responsible, Lorcan Bale, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to John’s murder, receiving a life sentence. But because there was no contested murder trial, many questions surrounding the crime were never publicly examined in the way they might have been.

The case has subsequently become associated with claims of Satanism, occult practices and a possible ritual murder. But what did the evidence actually establish? Did Lorcan Bale ever admit a Satanic motive? What do we really know about the objects found in the attic? And how much of the story comes from the original investigation — and how much emerged decades later?

In this episode of Shadows of Éire, we separate the established facts from later interpretations and revisit one of the most disturbing and unusual child murder cases in modern Irish criminal history.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

#TrueCrime #IrishTrueCrime #JohnHorgan #LorcanBale #DublinCrime #IrishCrime #Palmerstown #1973Murder #TrueCrimePodcast #ShadowsOfAira #UnsolvedMysteries #CrimeHistory #SatanicMurder #OccultCrime

In 1963 a young girl, Hazel Mullen, was murdered and dismembered in The Green Tureen restaurant in Dublin. Her 22 year old boyfriend Shan Mohangi is a student in the Royal College of Surgeons and quickly becomes the main suspect. But will her mother get the justice she deserves for the murder of her 16 year old daughter? Dive into this episode of Shadows of Éire to find out.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

At quarter past three on a freezing December morning, a call comes over the radio: people are in the River Liffey, swept away by a fast, dark current. Among the responding officers on patrol is Colm Finnerty—a 23-year-old student garda whose only official job that night is to watch and learn.

When the situation at the quay wall rapidly deteriorates, Finnerty is forced to make a split-second decision that tests the absolute limits of human endurance. What begins as a routine placement shift turns into a harrowing struggle against cold, panic, and time itself.

In this episode of Shadows of Éire we cover the story of a young trainee who went far beyond the call of duty before his career had even officially begun—and the rare honor that marked his place in Irish policing history.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

On Halloween 1973, the IRA pulled off one of the most audacious prison breaks in history, landing a hijacked helicopter inside the tiny exercise yard of Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.

In this episode, we dive deep into the real story behind the "Up and Away" escape. We separate myth from reality as we explore the mysterious "Mr. Leonard"—the man in the white suit who chartered the flight at gunpoint—and trace the dramatic actions of pilot Captain Thompson Boyes under pressure. Plus, we uncover the wild aftermath inside the prison walls, the explosive Portlaoise breakout, and the dramatic 1975 arrest that brought down IRA figure Kevin Mallon.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

When Dublin detectives raided a secure flat in Rathmines following a public street execution, they expected a routine gang hideout. Instead, they uncovered a shadow fortress of hostage rooms, extortion ledgers, and ancient blood oaths. This week, Shadows of Éire investigates the terrifying machinery of the Wo Shing Wo and 14K syndicates in Ireland, and the unique legal battle the state fought to break through a cultural wall of absolute secrecy.

Special thanks to Laura Raythorn for her help in the reviewing and editing of this episode.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Broadford, County Clare, 1923. A guard barely a year into the job is stopped on a lonely road by two armed men. Robbery turns to attempted murder — marched toward a laneway, a gun pressed to his chest, given five minutes to live. What he does next earns him a place in history: the first-ever recipient of the garda’s highest bravery honour, the Scott Medal. Part of our Scott Medal Series.

--------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE LISTENER OFFER:

Protect your digital privacy and support the show!

Get an exclusive NordVPN deal + extra bonus months risk-free:

https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=154687&url_id=902

(Includes a 30-day money-back guarantee)

--------------------------------------------------

DISCLOSURE:

Some links in these show notes are affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up through these links, Shadows of Éire may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

In February 2011, the quiet sands of Dollymount Strand in Dublin returned a horrific secret: a human arm, cleanly severed, with its identifying tattoos deliberately sliced away. Through international DNA tracking, the limb was identified as belonging to James Nolan, a notorious convicted predator from Finglas who had vanished shortly after his release from prison. 

For six agonizing years, the case remained frozen in time. Investigators chased whispers through Dublin's criminal underworld, tracking theories of gangland executions, drug debts, and vigilante justice—but every lead hit a wall of silence. 

Then, in November 2016, a sudden tragedy in County Monaghan blew the case wide open.

What happens when the one person legally sworn to protect you on the open sea becomes your greatest threat? This week, Shadows of Éire unpacks the horrifying 1828 tragedy of the Mary Russell. Driven mad by sleep deprivation and religious monomania, Captain William Stewart became convinced his loyal Irish crew was plotting a mutiny. Using his absolute authority, he trapped, bound, and slaughtered seven of his men. We dive deep into the harrowing eyewitness accounts of the surviving cabin boys, the gruesome forensic discovery in Cobh, and the Sensational Cork courtroom battle that redefined the legal boundary between cold-blooded murder and absolute madness.