Murray portrait removed after personal plea from victim

The portrait of a former lord mayor of Cork, the convicted sex offender John Murray, was removed from City Hall last night after a powerful personal plea from his victim.

It is understood the woman, who was sexually assaulted by Murray when she was a teenager in the 1990s, emailed current Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy yesterday after calls to move his portrait to a less prominent position were reported in the Irish Examiner.

It is understood that the victim set out in clear terms exactly what she would like to see happen to the photograph and that it be taken down.

Then following a meeting of party whips in the afternoon to discuss the issue, it was agreed “by consensus” to remove the portrait from the gallery of lords mayor.

Ms Clancy declined to comment on what happened in the whips meeting, but said the decision to remove the photo was agreed by all.

It was replaced within minutes by the portrait of another mayor. It has not been hung in another area of the building.

The issue was not discussed at last night’s council meeting.

However, Sinn Féin councillor Chris O’Leary, who last week asked party whips to consider relocating Murray’s portrait, welcomed its removal.

“It’s just a pity that people didn’t listen to this when it was first raised last week,” he said.

“We could have saved a lot of pain for everyone involved in this case if we had dealt with this discreetly last week when I first raised it instead of entering into a public debate on this issue.”

Murray, aged 83, from Gregg Rd in Cork, was jailed for one year last week after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl between 1996 and 1998.

Murray, who served as lord mayor in 1993 and 1994, denied all six charges.

However, following a trial, he was found guilty by a jury on five counts, and not guilty of the other charge.

On Dec 2, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed a two-year sentence on each of four counts of sexual assault, with the last year suspended on each count. He imposed a concurrent four-year sentence on one of the counts with the last three years suspended.

The net effect was that Murray was jailed for one year.

Last week, schools in the area where he served as a public representative removed his portrait from their corridors.