Gardaí are continuing their investigation into the murder of Dundalk woman Irene White with a view to prosecuting two other men in the case.
Both suspects, including the man who was the driving force in organising the murder and paid the killer, were known to the dead woman and her family.
Gardaí are seeking to charge them with murder on the basis they were all believed to be part of the same joint enterprise with the murder of the mother of three as their end goal.
The victim’s three children, two girls and a boy, were aged 17, six and four when their mother was killed.
Garda sources described a gruesome murder scene, with Ms White’s body riddled with stab wounds and left to bleed profusely on the kitchen floor of the family home.
On Monday, Anthony Lambe (35), from Annadrumman, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, was jailed for life for the frenzied stabbing murder 13 years ago. He was addicted to alcohol and other drugs at the time, and agreed to kill Ms White for a fee.
Suspect
The suspect who paid him and a man who helped organise the killing remain at large. However, gardaí have identified them. The man who paid for the murder had the prime motive for wanting Ms White dead. Gardaí believe the other man helped him to arrange the killing.
The man who wanted Ms White dead had an alibi accounting for where he was and who he was with at the time the 43-year-old was fatally attacked at her home in Co Louth.
She was stabbed a total of 34 times – including 15 times to the front and 14 times to her back – in the kitchen of her home, the Ice House, Demesne Road, Dundalk, on April 6th, 2005.
The two suspects now being targeted have long been suspected of central involvement in the murder conspiracy. However, because they had not carried out the killing themselves and had provable alibis they have not been charged with any crimes to date.
Gardaí believe Lambe could supply them with the information they need to bring prosecutions against the two men.
Tip-off
An anonymous call from Australia finally provided gardaí with a breakthrough in the long-running murder investigation. A woman said Lambe had told her that he murdered Ms White. After gardaí approached him having receiving the tip-off, Lambe said he was paid to kill her in the kitchen of her home.
Lambe underwent three interviews with gardai in which he gave an account of the background to the stabbing. He was drinking heavily, taking drugs and in debt when someone approached him and asked him to kill her on behalf of someone else. The same person paid him once Ms White was dead. With that information, gardaí have been working to bring other prosecutions in the case.
