Episode 02: The Zodiac

A short update from Frank and the production team of Inside the Crime. Season 4 is coming, but we'd like your input... take a listen to find out why. Email: [email protected]

Having been convicted of Una Lynskey's murder, Martin Conmey and Dick Donnelly began their sentences in Mountjoy prison in 1972. For Martin, his release almost three years later was supposed to mean a return to normality and a fresh start, but he found it almost unbearably hard to live with everything that had happened. However more than a decade later, one seminal moment in the history of The Troubles would ignite a determination in Martin to challenge the might of the State once more.It would take a change in the law, the unyielding love of his family, and yet more battles in the courtroom, but Martin set out to try get his conviction quashed.

Just a few months after the horrific events of December 1971, Martin Conmey and Dick Donnelly were charged Una Lynskey's murder. Martin had made a false confession to gardaí at Trim Garda Station, however Dick refused to sign anything despite claiming he came under similar pressure. They each hoped that the truth would emerge before the judge and jury at the Central Criminal Court in the height of the summer of 1972. In this episode, we'll bring you into the courtroom for those 13 days of evidence - could they put their faith in Lady Justice?

Having made false confessions to gardaí, Martin Conmey and Marty Kerrigan hoped the truth about what happened to Una Lynskey would emerge somehow, and this would lift the finger of suspicion. Her body was found before the end of 1971 and the investigation into her disappearance was upgraded to murder, but unfortunately it only added fuel to the fire of rumours already doing the rounds of Porterstown Lane. And very quickly afterwards, an act of misplaced vengeance would soon bring more tragedy to the lane.

Within an hour of Una's disappearance, the entire neighbourhood around Porterstown Lane was out looking for her.Soon enough, gardaí were on the scene and beginning their investigation, and a Ford car became a focus point.Una's body hadn't been found but the investigating officers were convinced within weeks they'd solved the case. Or had they?

Una Lynskey was 19 years old in October 1971, and she had a job with the Land Commission in Dublin City. On the evening of Tuesday 12th October, she stepped off a bus on the Fairyhouse Road near Ratoath, Co Meath when she hurried up Porterstown Lane towards her family's farm, a walk that would take no more than 15 minutes. She never made it home. A search began within the hour, but there was no sign of her.However, soon there were repeated descriptions of an unusual car on the lane that afternoon, and a number of locals in the area remembered hearing screams not long after Una got off the bus. Who would have taken her? And why?

The third season of Inside the Crime will be released on Tuesday, 30th January. It'll follow the story of Una Lynskey's murder in 1971. She disappeared just a few hundred metres from her home after stepping off the bus on Porterstown Lane, Co Meath on October 12th. What followed would shatter not only the lives of Una's loved ones, but many other families in the small rural community.

Season 3 of Inside the Crime is coming soon, but the team behind it are currently working on a daily podcast from the Central Criminal Court.It follows the trial of Jozef Puska, the man charged with the murder of Ashling Murphy who died along the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore in January 2022.This daily podcast is a factual, balanced and accurate account of what's heard by the jury each day, available after 6pm.It's called All Rise: The Ashling Murphy Murder Trial, and you can follow and subscribe on all platforms.

To mark the end of this season of Inside the Crime, we held a very special event with a live audience of listeners to The Charles Self Murder. We wanted to bring the series to a close by going deeper inside the crime, so we invited a panel of guests to join Frank on stage at Bartley’s lounge at the Grafton Hotel in Dublin. From the confusing elements of the crime scene to the social injustices that coincided with the murder, there was so much to dig into. Gay rights activist Tonie Walsh, criminologist Trina O'Connor, and architect Hugh Wallace who was a contemporary of Charles', joined Frank on stage with our host for the evening, Andrea Gilligan. We recorded it and wanted to share it with those of you who couldn’t make it.

There's been one key character who keeps cropping up throughout this season: Bertie. He was Charles' friend who was asleep in an upstairs bedroom the night of the murder. Bertie was the one to call 999 the following morning. But it's hard to understand how he could have slept through a brutal assault happening right below him. In this episode, we'll dig a little deeper into Bertie's story, his interactions with gardaí, and ask whether more attention could have been paid to just how much he knew about events that night. We'll also review the crime scene with a cold case detective, who casts doubt about the original team's conclusions. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss a moment of this Irish true crime podcast.