A relative of elderly murder victim Edward Fitzmaurice has criticised publisher Gill & Macmillan for refusing to withdraw a portion of a forthcoming book that refers to his death.
Mr Fitzmaurice (83) ran a drapery shop in Bellaghy, Charlestown, Co Mayo, until his death in May 1998. He was attacked and tied up around the night of May 1st, 1998, but his body was not found until five days later.
Despite an extensive investigation, including the taking of more than 700 statements, no one has been charged with the death.
A chapter on the case is included in a new book, Unsolved, written by RTÉ journalist Barry Cummins and due to be published around September.
Mr Fitzmaurice's granddaughter, Audrey Snee, has expressed concern at the inclusion of the case in the book and said she is seeking legal advice.
Gill & Macmillan, however, insists it is acting responsibly and there are no legal or moral reasons why the chapter should be withdrawn.
Ms Snee, who lives in Britain, said she and her mother, Mr Fitzmaurice's daughter, were horrified that the case was being included in the book when no one had been brought to trial. She said the family had waited for years to see someone brought to justice but that might never happen if it was decided that publicity from the book had made a fair trial impossible.
"The case is still relatively fresh," she said, and police were still following up leads. Numerous appeals have been made in the past nine years and there appeared to have been a breakthrough in October 2005 when gardaí arrested seven people in connection with the death. However, they were later released without charge. An eighth man was questioned a few weeks later and also released.
Asked about progress on the case, a Garda spokesman said it was "still open and under investigation".
Ms Snee said she would probably welcome such a publication in the future if all hope of a conviction had faded. "But this is the wrong time because there is a very good chance that they could still get the people who did this."
She had written to the publisher asking it to exclude the chapter but it refused, saying there was no evidence a trial could be compromised.
Gill & Macmillan publishing director Fergal Tobin said Ms Snee's request had been carefully considered and the publisher had consulted the author and legal advisers before making a decision.
"Her principal concern was that publishing this could potentially prejudice legal proceedings," he said. "We are responsible publishers and if we thought that anything we publish would prejudice legal proceedings we just wouldn't publish it."
Mr Tobin accepted that this stance had upset Ms Snee and said he regretted this. "But there are no legal or moral reasons why we should not go ahead and publish this," he said.
