Episode 707: The rise and fall of Sean Quinn

Retired garda detective Eddie Naughton spent the last 16 years of his career working on the Sandra Collins case. He remembers all the details and who was investigated. He recalls how few days after Sandra went missing, a local plasterer called Martin Earley dropped into the garda station to inquire how the search was going. Suspicions are raised about this married man and why he’s so interested in what has happened to a woman he claims to have only met in recent weeks. There is no sign of Sandra, her family cling on to hope that she has simply moved away. But in 2010 her case is finally upgraded to a murder inquiry.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bill Kenneally, a former accountant and basketball coach from Waterford City, is one of Ireland's worst-ever sexual predators. He's also a member of the southeast's most powerful political dynasties, a collection of Fianna Fáil TDs, senators, city councillors, and mayors who served for almost sixty years, right up until 2011. His influential connections didn't stop there. As far as we know, Kenneally began his horrific campaign of sexual abuse on young boys when he was just seventeen years old. He was eventually brought to justice in 2016 when he was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. In 2023, he received another four-and-a-half-year sentence for indecent assault on five boys. For the last eight and a half years, a commission of investigation has been examining how state authorities, the Catholic clergy, politicians, sporting organisations, and others dealt with the allegations of sexual abuse made by young teenage boys against Kenneally from the 1980s onwards. The commission, chaired by Michael White, heard over five thousand pages of testimony. Their official report had, has stated how there were missed opportunities and a clear and serious dereliction of duty by gardai, even by the standards of the late '80s. Today, Jenny Friel speaks to sexual abuse survivor Jason Clancy, who along with five of his childhood friends and fellow survivors, Kevin Keating, Gerry Mullane, Barry Murphy, Colin Power, and Paul Walsh, went public in their efforts to get the full truth about Kenneally's heinous crimes and why it took so long to get him stopped. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has now been cross-examined by the prosecution in Newry Crown Court where he is on trial over 18 alleged offences. He has plead not guilty to charges including rape and allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency. Both complainants alleged they were abused as children. His wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, from Dublinhill Road in Dromore, denies several charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offending. She is facing a trial of the facts on mental health grounds.  Allison Morris is covering the trial for the Belfast Telegraph. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A rugby ace behaving badly, the Belfast riots draw sick comments from a US rapper, and glamour model Katie Price says Daniel Kinahan and her hubby are sharing porridge in a Dubai prison. This is a wrap up of the top stories on crimeworld.com this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The brother of an Irish soccer star has been reported missing and feared dead in Spain. The victim in his 30s had been living in Spain for a number of years and associating with members of the Kinahan organization. Nicola speaks to Niall Donald on this breaking news story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.