There has been much speculation in sections of the media recently that suggests that when suspected serial killer Larry Murphy is released from jail (later this year) having served 15 years for the rape and attempted murder of a young women he will be obliged to tell the Gardai where he is living at all times. There is also specualtion that the nation's women need not be concerned about Murphy's release as he will be under constant Garda supervision and surveillance. However, Larry Murphy will not be required to give his details to Gardai and he most certainly wont be under 24/7 sureillance by a team of up to 12 detectives, as suggested by some.
Background:
Larry Murphy is a carpenter by trade and by all accounts very good at his trade even while in prison where he under took further courses and classes in carpentry. Before being caught trying to suffocate a young women with a plastic bag in the Wicklow mountains Larry Murphy appeared to all who knew him as a happily married man with a young family. However, Larry Murphy's double life was exposed in 2000 when he was witnessed by two hunts men in the Wicklow Mountains as he tried to suffocate a young business woman from Carlow whom he had just kidnapped and repeatedly raped. Murphy was duely arrested by Gardai and remanded to Cloverhill Prison to await his trial. While in Cloverhill Remand Prison in Clondalkin in Dublin Larry Murphy quickly made friends in the prisons E-Wing which is a protection wing for those people who do not wish to be in the general prison population, although Murphy would just as easily fitted in with the general population as so many of them view the rape of women as a normal part of their criminal and drug infested culture.
As Larry Murphy walked around the small yard of Cloverhill's E-Wing with fellow sex offenders he had few words, although when pushed he would say that his only regret was that he had been caught. He was able to swap stories with Noel Cawley who had been charged with the unlawful imprisonment and rape of a young women (Noel Cawley is now serving a sentence for the manslaughter of an old age pensioner in westmeath last year) and so on. Eventually Larry Murphy was sentenced to 15 years for the kidnap, repeated rape and attempted murder of the young business woman he had taken into the Wicklow mountains.
People who knew Larry Murphy including a close friend who was at that time a serving prison officer were shocked and stunned by the details of Larry Murphy's double life, he had fooled many and had it not been for the two hunts men on the night of his capture Larry Murphy's reign would have continued. Since Larry Murphy was convicted in 2000 he has been questioned on a number of occassions about the disappearance of a number of young women in the Leinster area between 1993-1998. It is said that Larry Murphy has refused to co-operate with Gardai in relation to their investiagtions into the disappearance of these women. This writer has no idea whether Larry Murphy did or did not have anything to do with these disappearances of young women, yet this writer does know that when Larry Murphy is released he will be able to roam free without legal obligation.
Why Larry Murphy will be able to roam free?
In 2001 the Sex Offenders Act was introduced, this Act had been in the pipe line for a number of years as Ireland tried to deal with the ever evolving extent of sexual crime in Ireland. As we now know this Act was delayed and then diminished in order to facilitate those within the Catholic Church who had sexually abused children. It is clear now from both the Ryan and Murphy Reports that there was serious collusion at the highest levels in this country to protect religious child rapists. Indeed following the revelations about Father Brendan Smyth in the early 1990s the Government of the day moved quickly to reduce the sentence for sexual assault from 10 years to 5 years, this sentence was increased in the Sex Offenders Act 2001, after many religious had been given soft sentences.
When the 2001 Act was introduced by the then Minister for Justice, John O Donoghue TD, it was heralded by many ill informed groups and individuals as a major step forward in the fight against sexual crime, in fact following the introduction of the 2001 Act sexual crime has continued to increase in every facet of its existence. While John O Donoghue had been warned by the Attorney Generals office not to introduce the 2001 Act in its form at that time, O Donoghue dancing to the tune of his cheer leaders at that time introduced the Sex Offenders Act 2001. Under the terms of the 2001 Act a person in jail at the time of its inactment or later convicted would be under an obligation to notify the Gardai within seven days of their release from prison the address at which they intend to live. However, the Act also makes it legal to tell the Gardai that you live at NO FIXED ABODE, many sex offenders released since 2001 have used this loophole and some like Patrick (Paddy) O Driscol was able to roam freely among the people of Cork until he eventually struck again and smashed a young woman's head in with a brick before raping her for over an hour. On the night in question Paddy O Driscol was in the company of another convicted rapist (who had no part in this latest rape) Patrick Moorehouse. Paddy O Driscol is now serving 18 years for his latest rape.
Upon Release Larry Murphy will be able to tell Gardai that he has no fixed abode and he will be able to roam the country as he feels fit. The Gardai have neither the man power nor the financial resourse to follow Larry Murphy indefinetly, however, it is the introduction of an ill considered 2001 Sex Offenders Act that will let Larry Murphy of the leash.
Footnote: There are presently 1,100 persons on the sex offenders register in Ireland including both men and women, up to 15% of these persons have given no fixed abode as their address, others have left the country (Patrick Barr, Patrick O Riordan), it is further clear from the Ryan and Murphy reports and the recent Adams scandal that there are many thousands of sex offenders in Ireland who have never and will probably never see the inside of a court house.
