Dean Lyons report to reach McDowell next month

A REPORT of the investigation into the confession of drug addict Dean Lyons for a murder he did not commit is on schedule for delivery to Justice Minister Michael McDowell next month.

Senior counsel George Bermingham is heading the commission of investigation into the Dean Lyons case, which was set up last February. Mr Lyons was held in custody until April 1998, charged with the murder of 61-year-old Mary Callinan. She and Sylvia Shiels were stabbed to death in their sheltered home on the grounds of Grangegorman Hospital in Dublin.

The commission is believed to have spoken to more than 60 people, including many witnesses who made statements following the double murder in March 1997. Lyons confessed to the murders when he was arrested four months later.

But another man Mark Nash claimed he had killed the two women when he was held by gardaí for killing his girlfriend’s sister Catherine Doyle and her husband Carl in Roscommon in August the same year, although he is understood to have later withdrawn that confession.

The terms of reference of the commission are to investigate the circumstances surrounding the confession made by Mr Lyons, who died of a heroin overdose in Manchester in September 2000 aged 27. It is also charged with reporting on the adequacy of the Garda assessment of the reliability of the confession, both before and after he was charged with murder.

The final matter to be investigated is the adequacy of information provided by the gardaí to the Director of Public Prosecutions on the morning of July 27, 1997 when the murder charge was brought against Mr Lyons.

As Mr Bermingham prepares the final draft of his report, which must be presented to Justice Minister Michael McDowell by August 7, he is trying to trace a number of people to whom references may be made in it. They are believed to be either people who made statements to the original investigation team or may have been referred to in statements by some of the 250 people interviewed by gardaí in 1997 in relation to the murders.

The people whose names were published in newspaper advertisements taken out by the commission yesterday are: Bernadette Higgins, Beverly Brazil, Carl Warburton, Michael Hayes, Michelle Kavanagh, Paul Lynch, Paul O’Connor, Rory Deegan, Shane Price, Stephen Twomey, Tony Lee and Wesley Cox.

The Commission has asked them to make contact so they can advise them out of courtesy that they are mentioned. It is not thought there is any adverse comment about any of them.

“The commission is in possession of information of importance to the individuals named and is anxious to bring this information to their attention,” the advertisement said.

However, it stressed that contact should be made by next Thursday.

The commission is based at 2 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1. Contact can be made in person or by calling 01 8870060, sending a fax to 01 8870068 or an e-mail to [e-mail]