New unit to probe cold case murders

UNSOLVED murders stretching back to 1980 will be the focus of a cold case unit established by Garda bosses as part of a major shake-up in the way gardaí tackle crime.

Specialist interviewers are also being been put in place to deal with victims of sexual assault, as well as people with special needs or under the age of 14.

Gardaí hope that new light will be shed on at least some of the 207 murders included on the unsolved list for the last 27 years.

The cold case unit, officially known as the serious crime review team, is one of a sweeping series of initiatives announced by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy yesterday.

The commissioner said that the eight-strong team has already been in contact with relatives of some of the 200-plus victims

Detective Superintendent Christy Mangan, who is leading the unit, described the unsolved murders as “very, very difficult” for the families and said they didn’t want to raise false hopes, “but we have to revisit the cases”.

Some of the murders involved arose from gangland feuds while others involve street incidents or suspected domestic disputes.

Others include the new post of senior investigating officer for key personnel taking charge of serious crimes and specialist victim interviewers who will be involved in the interviewing of under-14s, those with special needs or victims of sexual crime.

Meanwhile, the establishment of a crime training faculty at the Garda College in Templemore is aimed at providing a professional, comprehensive training programme for those charged with management of serious crime investigations.

Other posts to be set up include that of incident room co-ordinator and forensic collision investigator.

A PULSE-based major investigation management system is also being developed.

The appointment of 21 divisional detective inspectors was announced, allocated on the basis of one per district in the Dublin Metropolitan Region and one per division outside of the DMR.

Also announced was the appointment of additional regional detective superintendents, allocated on the basis of one per district in the DMR and one per region outside of the DMR.