Man found guilty of raping woman in Dublin hotel

A convicted killer and rapist has been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of raping a woman in a Dublin hotel room.

Michael Murphy aka Michael Barrett (aged 54), of no fixed abode but originally from Burnage, Manchester, had escaped from an English psychiatric hospital in November 2006 where he was being detained since being convicted in 1994 of raping a teenager. He also has a previous conviction in England for manslaughter.

Murphy pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to rape, oral rape and sexual assault of the woman, whom he had met earlier that night in a pub, on March 20, 2007.

He also pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill the woman and threatening her that he would kill her sleeping friend.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the victim causing her harm on the same occasion.

The jury of five men and seven women returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts except the charge of threatening to kill, on which they disagreed. They took just under three hours to convict Murphy after an 11-day trial.

Mr Justice George Birmingham thanked the jury for its attention and excused them from further service for 10 years. He remanded Murphy in custody until sentencing next June and ordered a victim impact report be prepared for the woman.