The family of one of the two women murdered in Grangegorman in 1997 has said it will take the State to the European Court of Human Rights if a public inquiry is not held into the Garda handling of the case.
Ms Stella Nolan, sister of Ms Sylvia Sheils, yesterday reiterated her request for a meeting with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to discuss her family's "extreme unhappiness" with the State's handling of the investigation into her sister's murder. She, and her solicitor, Mr Michael Finucane, have been seeking a meeting with him since February last year. A spokeman for the Minister said last night this request was being considered.
She is also seeking the publication of the Garda inquiry into the events which led gardaí to wrongly charge the late Dean Lyons with the double murder. The Garda authority yesterday took the unprecedented step of publishing an apology to the Lyons family in the national press, saying it "appreciates the embarrassment suffered by his family". Mr Lyons died in London four years ago from a heroin overdose.
Ms Sylvia Sheils (59) and Ms Mary Callinan (61) were savagely murdered as they lay in their beds in a sheltered housing scheme on the grounds of Grangegorman hospital in March 1997.
Mr Lyons was arrested in the months after the murders and though he confessed to them, it transpired later that he could not have committed them. The charges against him were withdrawn and he was released from custody in 1998.
Prior to his release, in August 1997, Mark Nash, a British national, was arrested for the murders of Carl and Catherine Doyle in Co Roscommon. During the course of investigation into those murders, Nash convincingly confessed to the Grangegorman murders. He was not charged with the murders, however, and withdrew the confession. The death of Lyons in 2001 makes any prosecution highly unlikely, as his "confession" was never formally retracted. Testimony would be needed from him in any prosecution, rebutting his "confession".
Yesterday, Ms Nolan said she had no sense of vengeance against the killer of her sister.
"What I want, and need, is a public inquiry into what happened to my sister and the details of the Garda investigation. I still don't know what happened, what the Garda did and why no-one has been charged eight years later."
Her solicitor, Mr Finucane, said if a public inquiry was not held, and if the "conventional, domestic mechanisms have been exhausted" his client would seek a declaration from the European Court of Human Rights that Sylvia Sheils' right to life had not been "properly vindicated" by the State.
A spokesman said yesterday the Minister was not satisfied of the potential effectiveness of a public inquiry but was seeking further clarification from Mr Finucane as to why Ms Nolan believed one was necessary. A Garda spokesman said "a lot" had been learnt by the force following its inquiry which culminated in yesterday's apology to the Lyons family. The lessons learnt related to investigation and interviewing techniques, he said. To publish the report, however, "would only be of assistance to the criminal fraternity".
