Eight women have come forward to allege they were potentially targeted by serial killers Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw in 1976, around the time the pair murdered two women in different parts of Ireland.
The testimonies suggest Shaw and Evans made failed attempts to murder far more victims than previously known. Their testimonies are being gathered by solicitor James McGuill, who represents the family of Dublin woman Elizabeth Plunkett, who was murdered by the pair in 1976.
The British men went on to rape and murder another woman, Mary Duffy (23), in Galway, before being caught a short time later.
Shaw and Evans had travelled to Ireland from the UK with the intention of raping and murdering Irish women.
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The first new witness came forward earlier this year, having seen media reports of the inquest which was finally held into the death of Ms Plunkett (23) in January. The inquest was held after it emerged recently that no death certificate had ever been issued for her.
The new witness said she was hit by a car after she left a music session in McDaniel’s pub in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. The incident occurred on the same night as Shaw and Evans abducted Ms Plunkett, who had also been in McDaniel’s.
Mr McGuill said he obtained the woman’s medical records, which confirm the timings.
“Part of Shaw’s confession had him being party to abducting Elizabeth and then retracing the steps to McDaniel’s pub and then going back again. So he was driving around the area at the time,” the solicitor said.
Last month, RTÉ launched a new podcast series concerning Ms Plunkett’s murder and highlighting the fact that, despite the men’s confessions, no one was ever convicted for her death.
Since the Stolen Sister podcast began, several more women have come forward with “strikingly similar accounts of being pursued by these two guys,” Mr McGuill said.
He said some of these accounts may have been given to gardaí at the time of the original investigation and “may or may not” have been centralised.
The women’s accounts will be passed on to the Garda Commissioner and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the hope that they will provide enough new evidence to reopen the case against Shaw for the murder of Ms Plunkett.
Evans died in custody in 2012. Shaw, who is the State’s longest-serving prisoner, has been repeatedly denied parole.
As Shaw was not convicted for Ms Plunkett’s murder, her family are not considered victims in a legal sense and therefore have no rights to object to his parole.
The reason Shaw was never tried for her murder remains unclear. Both Evans and Shaw were initially charged with the rape and murder of both Ms Plunkett and Ms Duffy.
A High Court judge later ruled they should each be put on trial separately.
Evans was tried and convicted for the murder of Ms Duffy, but the trial judge ordered the jury to return a not-guilty verdict for Ms Plunkett’s murder.
Shaw was put on trial solely for the murder of Ms Duffy. His first trial ended in a hung jury. He was convicted in a later trial, and both men received life terms.
The DPP subsequently withdrew charges against Shaw relating to Ms Plunkett’s rape and murder.
Despite this, over the years it became accepted knowledge that Shaw and Evans were convicted of her murder. The “fact” was repeated in books, articles and even by the authorities.
Mr McGuill said it is possible the DPP assumed Shaw would never be released from prison, so it decided to avoid the expense of another trial for Ms Plunkett’s murder.
He said it is also possible there were concerns about some of the investigative methods used by gardaí which authorities did not want to come to light.
It is unlikely a full explanation will ever emerge. Many of the files relating to Ms Plunkett’s murder are believed to have been stolen from the DPP’s office in 1987 by Martin Cahill, the notorious criminal known as the General.
It also remains unclear whether authorities will be able to reopen the investigation into Shaw. In response to queries, Garda headquarters said it is exclusively a matter for the DPP.
