Grangegorman killings
The Grangegorman killings were the homicide on 6 March 1997 of Sylvia Sheils and Mary Callinan, patients at St. Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital in Grangegorman, Dublin, Ireland. After giving a false confession, Dean Lyons was charged with the murders and placed on remand. In his statement to the Garda Síochána (police), Lyons gave details that would only be known to the murderer or to the investigators. After Lyons was charged, Mark Nash confessed to the killings, but later retracted his confession. In April 2015, Nash's trial for the murder of Sheils and Callinan began after an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the trial from going forward.
The house at No.1 Orchard View, Grangegorman | |
| Date | 6 March 1997 |
|---|---|
| Location | No.1 Orchard View, Grangegorman, Dublin, Ireland |
| Also known as | Grangegorman murders |
| Deaths | Sylvia Sheils and Mary Callinan |
| Suspects | Dean Lyons, Mark Nash |
| Charges | Mark Nash |
| Convictions | Mark Nash |
Lyons was described by one of the gardaí (policemen) involved in the case as a "Walter Mitty" character, and Charles Smith, psychiatrist and director of the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, felt that he might be prone to exaggeration and attention seeking. He spent nine months in jail for a crime that he did not commit, and was released after the charge of murder against him was dropped on 29 April 1998. A commission of investigation was set up to investigate the conduct of the Garda in the case. Dean Lyons died from a heroin overdose in 2000.