Accused's former co-workers recall him washing car, trial told

Two former co-workers of murder accused John Crerar told his trial that they saw him washing out the boot of his car with boiling water days after the disappearance of Kildare woman, Phyllis Murphy, over 22 years ago.

One of them admitted that he had lied to gardai in 1980 when he told them John Crerar arrived at work at 8pm on the night Ms Murphy went missing.

He lied "to save his own skin", he said, because he was not supposed to leave the factory until both replacement security guards turned up.

Meanwhile, a sister of Ms Murphy, Ms Martina McCormack, told the court that she, Phyllis and another sister, Breda, used to baby-sit for the Crerars when they were teenagers.

Ms Murphy's youngest brother Patrick said he could not remember whether Phyllis had babysat for the Crerars or not.

He remembered that John Crerar was friendly with his older sister Claire and her husband Noel, and that John Crerar used to drive Claire from Kildare to the Coombe Hospital when she was pregnant.

It was the 13th day of the Central Criminal Court trial of John Crerar, aged 54, a father-of-five, of Woodside Park, Kildare, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Philomena ('Phyllis') Murphy, aged 23, on a date unknown between December 22 1979 and January 18 1980, within the state.

The prosecution alleges that Ms Murphy "disappeared" at a bus stop opposite the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge, Co. Kildare sometime shortly after 6.30pm on December 22 1979.

Her body was found naked and strangled under spruce trees in a forested area near the Wicklow Gap 28 days later.

Mr Sean Phelan, a former soldier who worked as a security guard for Provincial Security Services at the Black & Decker plant in Kildare in 1979, said that by the time he left work shortly after 8pm on December 22nd, John Crerar had not arrived.

He said that sometime between Saturday 22nd and Christmas Eve, he worked a day shift with John Crerar. Mr Crerar told his co-workers that he was going to clean his car, Mr Phelan told prosecution lawyer Mr Michael Durack SC.

"Mr Crerar drove his car about 100 yards up the car park of the Black & Decker facility and that's where he started cleaning his car", he said. "He explained to me that he was going to clean his car, that seemingly his wife had spilled cream or milk in it and it was stinking because of that".

Mr Phelan said there was no hot water in the security hut, but there was a kettle and a mop and bucket. He said the accused boiled the kettle and put the water in the bucket and brought it to his car. "He must have done that several times", he said. "It struck me as very odd. Given the quietness of the day, he could have parked his car close to the hot water and the cleaning materials."

"I can't remember how long [it took] but to me it was an inordinate length of time to spend cleaning a car", the witness said.

Cross-examined by Mr Roger Sweetman SC, Mr Phelan said he could not recall there being a car wash that employees of the factory were allowed to use in the area of the car park. It was possible, he agreed, but he was not sure.

Another ex-soldier and former security guard at the Black & Decker plant, Mr Jim Mahoney told the court that two people normally relieved himself and Mr Phelan at 8pm, when they finished their shift.

On December 22nd, he and Mr Phelan were waiting to be relieved by Patrick Bolger and John Crerar. When Paddy Bolger came, Mr Mahoney said he told Sean Phelan to go because his wife was waiting outside "and the young ones were in the car".

He then stayed "a couple of minutes" with Mr Bolger before he too went home at around 8.05 or 8.06pm. When he left, John Crerar had still not arrived, he said.

Mr Mahoney told Mr Durack that he did a shift with John Crerar the following week or the following weekend. "I'm not really sure, it could be five or six days, it could be seven days after, it could be the following weekend", he said.

He said Mr Crerar boiled the kettle and put the water into the mop bucket and went over to clean his car, saying that there was "a sour smell because of milk being spilt by his wife".

Mr Mahoney said the car was "about 30 yards in on the left", and that it was where Mr Crerar usually parked his car. "He wasn't that long [cleaning it]", he told counsel, "He wasn't too long at all - 20 minutes or that". He said Mr Crerar "concentrated mostly on the boot."

Under cross-examination, Mr Mahoney agreed that in 1980, he told gardai that as he was leaving Black & Decker shortly after 8pm on December 22nd, a car drove in and he was "fairly sure it was John Crerar".

He told counsel that that was wrong, and he was covering himself because two security guards were supposed to be on duty at the factory before he left it.

"The reason I said I was fairly sure it was John Crerar was to cover my own self for leaving the factory", he said. He agreed it "probably was" a lie he told gardai but he denied he was lying now.

"The reason I assumed that John Crerar had come in was I wanted to leave the factory, I wanted to come home and you're not supposed to leave the factory until there's two men there", he said, "So I was saying it more or less to save my own skin."

In other evidence, Martina McCormack (nee Murphy) told the court that when she and Phyllis were teenagers, they knew the Crerars, who were at the time living in a caravan beside the Jet station in Kildare.

Herself, her sister Breda and Phyllis had babysat for the Crerars, she said. She agreed that after the Crerars moved to Maryville, she and Phyllis would have continued to know them.

On behalf of the accused, Mr Sweetman put it to Ms McCormack that John Crerar said he could not remember Phyllis having babysat. "I remember", Ms McCormack said.

Her brother, Patrick Murphy, told the court he was the youngest of 10 children in the family. He remembered his family knowing the Crerars when he was a child. "He was friendly with my sister Claire and her husband Noel", he said. "When Claire was living with us she was pregnant and he used to drive her to the Coombe Hospital and I used to go with him."

Cross-examined, Mr Murphy said he was not sure of the reason why Mr Crerar used to drive Claire to the Coombe, but "they were friends".

Mr Sweetman put it to him that it must have been quite difficult for someone without a car to get to the Coombe and that it was a kindness for Mr Crerar to have done it. "I think they were friends, and that's why", Mr Murphy said.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice McKechnie.