Rapist’s home truths
BEWARE the bogeyman. At some point over the next few hours, if not by the time you read these words, a man will be released from prison for whom the term “infamous” could fairly be applied.
Larry Murphy, who has spent the last 10 years in jail following the horrific multiple rape and attempted murder of a Carlow businesswoman, will walk free, into the unknown.
Already, the talk in parts of Wicklow, where Murphy lived before being jailed for his crimes, is awash with speculation and an unmistakable element of fear at his possible return.
The reasons hinge not just on the crime for which Murphy was jailed, but also other offences which many people suspect him of, but for which he has never been questioned or officially connected with: the disappearances of three women last seen in the Leinster region, Annie McCarrick, Deirdre Jacob and Jo Jo Dullard.
His release has also crystallised a number of issues surrounding the crimes of sex offenders, how they are treated and how a community’s fears can be assuaged despite the prospect of someone like Larry Murphy living amongst them.
Murphy, now 45 and a father-of-three, was working as a carpenter when he committed the brutal crime against a Carlow businesswoman in February 2000.
As she walked towards her car having finished work, Murphy punched her in the face, then forced her into her vehicle, in which he tied her up and then drove her to a quiet location where he moved her into his car. He then drove another 12km to another location, where he raped her.
Her ordeal, unfortunately, did not end there. Murphy spoke to the woman, put her in the boot of his car, then drove another 25km to Kilranelagh, a wooded area in Wicklow.
There he raped her a number of times, before putting a plastic bag over her head and attempted to suffocate and strangle her. Mercifully, two deerhunters chanced across the scene, and while Murphy fled, he was spotted and identified as a local man. Now he is due to return to a society that does not want him.
While serving his sentence in prison, it is understood Murphy cut a solitary figure, and it is believed he received little in the way of visits during his time in Arbour Hill, particularly in recent years.
He was not involved in any fights or scuffles, worked in the carpentry workshop, and as recently reported, renewed his driving licence and passport.
Unlike other parts of the prison system, Arbour Hill – which deals specifically with sex offenders – is never usually overcrowded. By all accounts, Murphy did nothing to stand out from the crowd. More specifically, his decision – expressed early on during his spell in jail and never altered – to refuse any option of entry onto a sex offender treatment programme does not make him a special case.
The theory is that any admission onto a programme must be voluntary. Figures released last year by Fine Gael’s then-justice spokesman, Charlie Flanagan, revealed that of 578 sex offenders released in the previous five years, 7% had completed a sex offender rehabilitation programme.
Mr Flanagan’s successor in the justice portfolio, Alan Shatter, clearly believes that a lack of engagement with therapy should mean sex offenders forego their right to early release.
Murphy is exiting prison 10-and-a-half years into his 14-year sentence because of remission, but Mr Shatter said: “The early release of a convicted sex offender such as Larry Murphy in the absence of his participating in a treatment programme is not only a genuine cause of concern to the wider community but undermines the integrity of the judicial process and the credibility of our courts system, in that such early release automatically disregards a substantial portion of the sentence imposed by the judiciary.”
Fiona Neary, director of the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI) said people in the community – wherever Murphy chooses to live – need to cooperate with the local gardaí to help them safeguard people’s safety.
“Public anxiety at Larry Murphy’s release is understandable given his record and the additional crimes in which he is a suspect. He is still considered a high risk to society.
“Knowing where a sex offender lives greatly assists gardaí in their role. When offenders are driven out of one area, or into homelessness, it is harder to protect communities.”
This issue came to the fore in a recent case before the High Court, where 49-year-old Michael Murray, who raped four women over a six-day period in 1995, began proceedings, claiming he had been harassed by the press since his release from prison last year.
A few weeks later the High Court refused to grant an injunction which would have prevented newspapers from publishing his address and pictures of him.
In delivering that verdict, Ms Justice Mary Irvine said: “Such knowledge may allow members of the public to adjust their behaviour in whatever manner they feel might best protect them from any risk to which they may legitimately feel exposed.”
Given Murphy’s notoriety, it is unlikely that he will be able to escape the attention of reporters and photographers, but Fiona Neary believes the legal system does not bolster safety in the wider community.
Referring to Murphy’s impending release, she said: “We call on our legal system to make it the norm that serious offender sentences have Pre-Release Risk Assessment built in. Not all sex offenders are the same.
“In cases like this, of a high risk likely repeat offender the option of remaining in custody until there is a demonstration of reduction in harm should be available to the authorities.”
Privately, gardaí do not expect Murphy to return to Baltinglass, not least because there would be legitimate fears that he would be attacked. While sympathy for a convicted rapist is virtually non-existent, the prospect of people in the community taking the law into their own hands does not appeal to gardaí, and it is thought Murphy would be less likely to be attacked were he to live in an urban area.
There is also the possibility he could move overseas, as he would be free to move within the European Union and has had his passport renewed, along with his driving licence.
What will not happen is Murphy being electronically tagged, or a constant Garda surveillance operation monitoring his every move.
A man deemed to be high risk, Murphy is obliged within seven days of his release to inform gardaí where he is living, and of any subsequent change of address or move out of the jurisdiction. Officers will check in on him whenever they feel like doing so, and a certain relationship will have to be maintained with him, whether or not he gives his address as “no fixed abode”.
Overall, the monitoring of sex offenders, of which there are around 1,100 around the country, is carried out by the Sexual Offenders Management and Intelligence Unit in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation headed by a special section headed by Det Supt John McKenna, but despite attempts by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and others to quell fears over Murphy’s release, the tension is palpable. Mr Flanagan said yesterday: “Remission is tied into the process of rehabilitation, but in this case all and any attempts at rehabilitation were dismissed. It is quite simple, automatic remission for sex offenders must end.”
His party colleague, Billy Timmins TD, lives in the Baltinglass area and has already expressed concern over whether Murphy’s movements will be adequately monitored. All this hints at the wider issue of sex offenders, and what to do with them. Early last year Mr Ahern published proposals regarding the monitoring and treatment of sex offenders.
Yesterday, the department confirmed the Irish Prison Service will shortly begin a pilot project using electronic tagging on prisoners on temporary release. Sex offenders will not be included in the pilot.
However, the department emphasised progress is being made in dealing with sex offenders and the risk they pose. In addition to the training of gardaí and members of the probation service in a new risk assessment model, there are programmes for sex offenders entitled Building Better Lives which has seen a swifter take-up among inmates at Arbour Hill.
This is confirmed by Kieran McGrath of the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA) Ireland, who claims the fruits of these programmes will only become apparent in the coming years.
He says that it is important not to generalise when discussing the sex offender population, as much of the abuse is carried out by teenagers, and most attack people they know. However, he said someone who would attack someone he did not know would place them at “one end of the spectrum” and make them a higher risk case.
Kieran McGrath takes a different view on the issue of incentivising treatment, claiming: “The fact is, if they don’t get an incentive why should they bother.
“There are many of them who are motivated, many without any incentive of time off. But the other thing about giving them earlier release, as opposed to early release, is that you have more control and supervision over them and they are essentially on licence, so if anything goes wrong in immediate post-release phase – which is a most delicate time – there is a better chance you will remain offence-free.”
What he believes needs to happen is a comprehensive risk assessment being made available to the judiciary before sentencing, as often the length of a sentence is linked to the offence committed, rather than the likelihood of someone re-offending. For example, a man attacking a stranger is likely to pose a higher risk, yet this is not taken into account when jail terms are handed down.
The legal system is “inflexible” in his view, and risk assessment should work in tandem with the possibility of GPS tagging. “The most dangerous and most uncooperative would be candidates for electronic tagging,” he says. Funding constraints have impacted on treatment programmes around the country, and according to Mr McGrath better coordination between the HSE and other agencies would also help bolster public confidence, but he adds: “There are resource issues but it’s not the case that the system is a shambles everywhere.”
As for cases like that of Larry Murphy, he admits there is a dilemma over how best it could be handled, but says in some respects it may actually be better for him to live in a community where at least people know who he is, rather than live somewhere where no one knows of his past.
The greater Leinster area is where Jo Jo Dullard went missing in November 1995. She was last seen in Noone in Co Kildare. Annie McCarrick, an American student living in Dublin, went missing in March 1993 and was possibly last seen in Johnny Fox’s pub in south Co Dublin. Deirdre Jacob, then aged 18, went missing on July 28, 1998, as she walked from Newbridge to her home in nearby Roseberry.
Gardaí are fearful that a widespread assumption regarding Murphy’s possible involvement in the disappearances of the other women will hamper those investigations.
Earlier this year in an interview with a local paper, Sgt Seamus Rothwell of Newbridge Garda Station in Kildare stressed people must accept Murphy may not have had any role in the earlier disappearances, referring specifically to the case of Deirdre Jacob.
“One fear we have is there is a general presumption here Larry Murphy did everything. People may have information on Deirdre Jacob and won’t come forward.
“We never found where he [Murphy] was working on the day Deirdre disappeared. He has refused to speak to any gardaí. His movements for July 28 have never been pinned down so we can’t say either way.”
The speculation, however, has intensified ahead of his release, fuelled in part by comments made by Murphy’s brother Thomas on the Miriam O’Callaghan chat show this summer.
Thomas Murphy said: “Nobody has gone missing (since he was imprisoned) and I find it difficult to believe that he wasn’t involved in it. But I still can’t put my hand on my heart and say he did do it. I can’t put my hand on my heart and say he didn’t do it.”
One expert expressed the fear that in the event of evidence being produced that would link Murphy to the disappearances, he could claim he would not get a fair trial on the basis of past media coverage.
It is thought unlikely Murphy will return to Wicklow. It has been reported that his estranged wife has left the area along with her children, while Murphy’s brother has said he will not be making any contact with him.
Many communities around the country will be keeping an eye on any newcomers to their area, fearful they might have a new neighbour, someone no one wishes to entertain.
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