Prison probes into death of woman

TWO investigations have been launched into the death of a female inmate who was serving a life sentence at Dublin’s Dochas Centre for the murder of her son.

Convicted killer Ruth Murphy was jailed for the murder of her seven-year-old son, Karl, on a Wicklow beach in 2001.

Prison sources last night confirmed the body of the 48-year-old was found in her single cell on Tuesday night and that her death was being investigated as a suicide.

The mother admitted murdering her son at a beach in Greystones nine years ago after post mortem results showed the boy was forcibly held under water until he drowned.

The court case heard how Karl Murphy’s body was found at North Beach, Greystones, on June 22, 2001, about three hours after his father reported him missing. The couple had split up and Ruth Murphy, who was visiting her son, escaped with him to the beach.

A post mortem later showed bruising on his back and shoulders and six “finger sized” bruises on his neck consistent with “forcible drowning”.

Ruth Murphy had suffered from extreme alcoholism and was also taking tranquillisers, and was attending a psychiatric hospital.

Prison staff found her body at around 11.30pm on Tuesday in her cell in the female jail.

Ruth Murphy was originally put on suicide watch while in jail not long after she pleaded guilty to her son’s murder in 2001 and was also given psychiatric care in the medical unit of the prison.

The Irish Prison Service refused to comment yesterday but said that it and the Gardaí had both launched investigations into the death and a coroner’s inquest would be held shortly.

The last death of an inmate at the female Dublin jail was in 2003.