Family of murdered woman left angry by DPP decision

LATE on the evening of April 11, 1998, Aisling McCarthy, grieving over the sudden death of her mother hours earlier, was told the 47-year-old had been murdered.

Joan McCarthy, a grandmother, had been found dead in her bed early that morning and it appeared she had been strangled. A murder investigation was launched from Coolock Garda Station.

Months later, Aisling's boyfriend Brian Farrell was arrested and charged with Mrs McCarthy's murder. On the cusp of his trial last July, the Director of Public Prosecutions requested the court enter a nolle prosequi and the accused man walked away.