Murder victim’s sister upset by leaked investigation report

THE sister of one of the two women killed in the infamous Grangegorman murders has said she was “particularly upset” at the leaking of an investigation report to the newspapers.

Sylvia Shields, 58, and Mary Callinan, 61, were stabbed to death in Grangegorman, in Dublin’s north inner city, in March 1997.

Dean Lyons, a heroin addict and since deceased, was wrongly charged with the murders, the circumstances of which are being investigated by a Government-appointed commission.

Details from a leaked draft of the report of the investigator appeared in the newspapers last week.

Stella Nolan, Ms Shields’s sister, has directed her solicitor to write to the Minister for Justice on the matter.

“I’ve written to the minister on behalf of Ms Nolan, expressing our upset at last week’s events and asking for an advance sight of the report, the full report, before it is published,” said solicitor Michael Finucane.

“My client was particularly upset at some of the more graphic details in the Evening Herald, which she was being made aware of for the first time.”

The investigation was carried out by senior barrister George Birmingham, who is obliged to send a draft copy of his report, or relevant sections of it, to people criticised in it.

This is done before the report is submitted to Justice Minister Michael McDowell for publication.

“My client is extremely unhappy now and would very much like a copy of the report,” said Mr Finucane. “It can’t do much harm, given what’s out there. It’s the least the State can do.”

Mr Finucane said they were not happy with the investigation, which sat in private, and was not subject to public scrutiny.

He said it remained to be seen whether the leak will be addressed by the investigation into the charges brought against Mr Lyons.