Grangegorman murders/investigation: Dean Lyons was charged with the murders but then another man gave gardaí a detailed account of the killings, writes Fiona Gartland
Sylvia Sheils (59) and Mary Callinan (61) were stabbed to death in their beds at No 1 Orchard View, Grangegorman on March 7th, 1997.
They were the victims of a frenzied knife attack. The injuries sustained by the victims were horrific and shocking. The bodies were found by a fellow resident of the house who raised the alarm.
Gardaí launched a major investigation into the brutal murders, carrying out house to house inquiries and taking more than 1,000 statements. A long list of suspects was assembled but they had no prime suspect in the case and brought in profilers from the UK to get a picture of the individual likely to be involved. The profilers suggested the killer was male, in his mid-teens to early 20s, socially isolated and inadequate and was likely to be sexually inexperienced.
Gardaí also interviewed two men, one in St Patrick's Institution and one in Wheatfield Prison, who both linked Dean Lyons to the double murder. Mr Lyons was arrested and charged with the murder of both women in July 1997. The 24-year-old homeless heroin addict had confessed to killing the women while in custody at the Bridewell Garda station. Meanwhile, Mark Nash, a British national, was arrested for the murders of Carl and Catherine Doyle in a savage knife attack in Co Roscommon. During the course of the investigation into those murders, in August 1997, he also confessed to the Grangegorman killings, with details that only a person at the scene could have known. He later retracted this confession and was never charged. He is serving life sentences for the Roscommon murders.
In light of the conflicting statements, Assistant Garda Commissioner James McHugh was asked to review all of the evidence on file in relation to the murders. The charges against Mr Lyons were dropped eight months after Nash's confession, in April 1998.
In September 2000, having moved to England, Mr Lyons agreed to co-operate in a prosecution case against Nash. However, a day after being released from Strangeways Prison, where he was serving a short sentence, he died from a heroin overdose.
The Garda Síochána issued an unprecedented apology to his family for their charging of an innocent man in February 2005.
The commission of investigation into the Dean Lyons affair was established last February, eight years after Mr Lyons was wrongly charged with the two murders. There was initial reluctance by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and his predecessor John O'Donoghue to hold an inquiry into the Dean Lyons affair.
There has been a sustained campaign for an inquiry from the families of the victims and from that of Mr Lyons. The family of Ms Shiels, one of the two murdered women, said it would take the State to the European Court of Human Rights if a public inquiry was not held into the Garda handling of the case.
The campaign had the support of a number of Opposition politicians, including Labour leader Pat Rabbitte and independent TD Tony Gregory.
The commission was finally established following a recommendation by senior counsel Shane Murphy, who conducted a review for the Government into how Mr Lyons came to confess .