‘Black Widow’ Catherine Nevin dies after brain tumour battle

Catherine Nevin, known as the ‘Black Widow’, has died, taking the secret as to who she hired to murder her husband to her grave.

Tom Nevin, 55, was shot dead at their home in Jack White’s Inn, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, in March 1996, during a staged robbery.

Some Garda sources have indicated that a notorious hitman, who was living in the area at the time, was a chief suspect, but he passed away nine years ago.

Nevin died in a care centre in Dublin on Monday night, aged 67, after a long battle with a brain tumour.

She was jailed for life in 2000 for the murder after one of the longest trials in the State’s history.

The court heard she had tried to solicit three men to kill her husband in 1989 and 1990. Some six years later she succeeded in getting someone to murder Mr Nevin.

She served her time in Dochas Women’s Prison. She maintained her innocence and lost an appeal in 2003 and a 2010 application to have the conviction declared a miscarriage of justice. She lost a further appeal before the Supreme Court in 2014.

In 2016, she began receiving temporary release for hospital treatment after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. She was granted full release, on licence, last September.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, retired assistant commissioner Jim McHugh said the murder was “all because of greed and infidelity” and said she would have gained significant financial advantage from his death, including from insurance payouts.

He said he had no evidence as to who the gunman was, but said many believed a “certain individual”, now deceased, was responsible.

He said that when she was arrested Nevin refused to answer any pertinent questions, something that was not revealed at her trial.