Commission to investigate murders of elderly women

A SENIOR counsel is to be appointed to head an inquiry into how a homeless drug addict came to be charged with the murders of two elderly women.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell is to bring proposals for a commission of investigation to the Government within the next two weeks.

Barrister George Birmingham is to be appointed the chair the inquiry into the Dean Lyons affair, a highly controversial case dating back to 1997.

Mr Lyons was charged with the murders of Sylvia Shiels and Mary Callinan after making what appeared to be a full confession that included details that no-one except the killer and investigating gardaí would have known.

Ms Shiels (59) and Ms Callinan (61) were stabbed to death inside their sheltered home at Grangegorman, north Dublin, in March 1997. Officially, the file on the murders is still open.

The murder investigation and the arrest were the subjects of an internal garda inquiry, the conclusions of which have never been revealed. However, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy did issue an apology to Dean Lyons’ parents, Sheila and Jackie.

The senior counsel will be asked to investigate how Mr Lyons, a heroin addict, came to be charged with murders, how and why the charges were later dropped and why no-one else had been charged.

Mark Nash, a double murderer serving life for the August 1997 killings of a Roscommon couple, is said to have confessed to the murders. He later retracted his confession.

However, Mr Lyons, who died in England a number of years ago, was kept in prison for some months after Nash confessed.

Both the family of Mr Lyons and Sylvia Shiels had wanted a full public inquiry. It is to be carried out under the Commissions of Investigation Act.

It will be largely held in private but witnesses can be legally compelled to give evidence while the commission will have access to files and documents, including those held by gardaí. A report will be published at the conclusion of the inquiry.