Shocking 1971 killings recalled in new book

Two deaths which tore apart a Meath community and even families within that community are recounted in a new book 'Where No-One Can Hear You Scream", which looks at violent deaths and assaults in the Wicklow mountains. Even today, four decades after the deaths of Una Lynskey and Martin Kerrigan, a case is still ongoing as one of those convicted of the manslaughter of the young Ratoath girl, Martin Conmey, is seeking to have his conviction overturned. Conmey and Dick Donnelly were convicted of the manslaughter of Ms Lynskey, and Donnelly"s conviction was overturned on appeal. A mysterious man who was seen in the Porterstown Lane area with a girl in his car by a number of witnesses on the night of Una Lynskey"s disappearance was never found, leading the author of the book, Sunday Times journalist Sarah McInerney, to suggest that the real truth of what happened to Una Lynskey has never been told. Despite a major Garda investigation, it has never been determined how either of the two young Ratoath people died in 1971. Manslaughter verdicts were handed down, but no-one was ever convicted or murder, and serious, persistent questions remain. The most significant of these is the car driven by the strange man who was never found as well as the insistence of some witnesses that the men charged with Una"s murder could never have been near her when she disappeared. Porterstown Lane in Ratoath in 1971 was a close knit community where everybody knew everybody, and many were related. Nineteen-year old Una was working in the Land Commission in Dublin and travelled home on the bus along the N3 to Porterstown. One night in January 1971, having travelled on the bus with her cousin, Ann Gaughan, she parted with Ann at Gaughans" house but never made it home to her own house. Screams had been heard that evening by a number of witnesses, and a the strange man driving a Ford Zodiac was also seen. It was the similarity between the Ford Zodiac and a Ford Zephyr driven by Dick Donnelly that led to him and his friends, Marty Kerrigan and Martin Conmey. The Murder Squad took them to Trim Garda Station for intensive questioning and a 48-period which has been a source of contention ever since. All three men say they were physically and mentally abused by Gardai during the interrogation, to an extent that two of them, Conmey and Kerrigan, eventually gave in and signed statements, which were taken seriously, even though they didn"t tally. When the Kerrigans looked for an official court order to release Marty, the three were released and Kerrigan and Donnelly were left to walk home to Ratoath from Trim. Later in the year, the body of Una Lynskey was discovered in the Wicklow mountains and tensions grew between her family and the three men who had been questioned about her death. The area around Porterstown Lane was now full of angry young men, half of whom wanted to revenge a loved one, half of whom were determined to defend their good name. During a roadside row a week later, Marty Kerrigan was abducted by John Gaughan and James and Sean Lynskey. His body was also found in the mountains. The three men were found guilty of manslaughter, as there was nothing to prove that the fatally injured Marty Kerrigan was dead when they left him in the mountains. A week before that murder trial began, Dick Donnelly and Martin Conmey were formally charged with the murder of Una Lynskey. Even though the state pathologist ruled that Una Lynskey could not have died by being hit by a car, the prosecution case was that she was hit by Donnelly"s Ford when Donnelly and Conmey were inside. Dick Donnelly"s appeal was successful by Martin Conmey"s was not, largely on the grounds of an alleged confession to a third party, and the fact that he had signed a confession in Trim. He served three years in prison and his attempt to have his conviction overturned, initiated in 1997, has only recently been listed on the Court of Appeal"s schedule. The Kerrigan family are also trying to clear Marty Kerrigan"s name through a private investigator.