Cold case team to probe 207 unsolved murders

More than 200 unsolved murders are to be re-investigated by a team of detectives in An Garda Siochana’s new cold-case squad, it was revealed today.

Headed by Detective Superintendent Christy Mangan a unit of eight officers will revisit the case files of scores of mysterious killings dating back to 1980.

The Serious Crime Review Team will carry out preliminary examinations of the evidence before prioritising investigations.

In all 207 unsolved murder cases will be revisited.

Det. Supt Mangan said officers will go through case files and circumstances around the investigations before deciding whether to push on with a new inquiry.

“Obviously a lot will depend on what evidence is available and if there’s new developments in relation to forensic evidence,” he said.

“Also a fresh set of eyes in relation to the case can benefit the investigation and the passage of time with witnesses.

“Some people will change their mindset, their personal circumstances may have changed and intimidating people who may have been present at the time might not be there now.”

Among those cases being looked at include the high-profile killings of French film maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996, 17-year-old Raonaid Murray in Dun Laoghaire in 1999 and pensioner Eddie Fitzmaurice in 1998 in Mayo.

Det. Supt Mangan said witnesses may have been too fearful to come forward in the past to give crucial evidence about killings.

“Obviously in a number of cases there are people who didn’t tell exactly what they saw or the knowledge that may have been in their possession at the time. We will be revisiting a lot of those people,” he said.

Det. Supt Mangan said the cases were all very difficult and the aim was not to raise false hopes for grieving families.

Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy announced details of the new unit at Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park and said he was confident of results in some of the investigations.

Although initially only staffed by a team of eight, the unit will be able to call in additional resources from other sections of the force.

“If we need extra people to conduct inquiries on our behalf we can do that,” the Det. Supt said.

The cold-case squad was one of a series of reforms announced by the Commissioner as he moves to modernise the force.

Among the other changes are new screening tests for candidates applying to become detectives within the force.

Twenty-one Detective Inspectors are being created, one for every district in Dublin and one for every garda division outside the capital.

Additional regional Detective Superintendents will be allocated on a similar basis.

Elsewhere, Senior Investigating Officers are to be recruited to take charge of serious crime inquiries while Incident Room Co-ordinators will also be trained freeing up specialist resources tied up in managing roles.

Specialist Victim Interviewers will be brought in to interview children under 14 years of age and those with special needs and victims of sexual crime.

Forensic Collision Investigators will also be hired to focus on road crashes, particularly fatal accidents.