Kerry Babies garda calls for both infants to be exhumed
And he wants Scotland Yard to investigate
ONE OF the detectives involved in the Kerry Babies case has refused to accept any wrongdoing.
Instead, retired Detective Gerry O’Carroll has called for the bodies of the two babies at the heart of the 1984 case to be exhumed.
In a week in which An Garda Síochána offered a sincere apology to Joanne Hayes ‘for the awful stress and pain she has been put through’ – an apology that was backed up by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, Tánaiste Simon Coveney and Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar – Mr O’Carroll told the Kerryman newspaper that he was calling for both bodies to be exhumed and for an outside agency, such as Scotland Yard, to carry out a complete, independent DNA analysis of the remains.
‘I would, of course, accept the outcome of any such investigation,’ he added.
Of the force’s decision to release the DNA profile of Baby John, the infant whose body was found on a Cahersiveen beach in April 1984, and whose remains were never claimed, Mr O’Carroll asked: ‘Why now? Why are we only learning of the DNA finding now.’
He said: ‘DNA testing has been around for decades. In fact I was the first officer in the State to access it as part of a murder inquiry in 1993 when, along with a suspect, a team of us travelled to a laboratory in Oxford.’
His comments come despite the very public formal apology by the force over the initial investigation into the deaths of Baby John, whose body was found to have been stabbed 28 times, and Ms Hayes’s own baby, found on her family farm, in Abbeydorney, Co. Kerry, in 1984.
Ms Hayes, who buried her stillborn son on family land without telling anybody, was wrongly charged with his murder, and the charges were later withdrawn.
Detectives didn’t believe her and even refused to accept Ms Hayes’s offer to show them where she had buried the baby.
After the body was later found and blood tests taken, charges against her were dropped but she ended up being the subject of the infamous Kerry Babies Tribunal. The apology she received on Tuesday from An Garda Síochána came after new DNA testing was able to conclusively rule her out as Baby John’s mother.
On Tuesday, Superintendent Flor Murphy said: ‘Principally, a viable DNA profile has been obtained from samples taken from Baby John in the course of the original investigation. This sample has been examined and compared, and as a result of this analysis, we can conclusively state that Ms Joanne Hayes is not the mother of Baby John.
‘It is a matter of significant regret for An Garda Síochána that it has taken such a long time for it to be confirmed that Ms Hayes is not the mother of Baby John.
‘On behalf of An Garda Síochána, I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for that, as well as the awful stress and pain she has been put through as a result of the original investigation into this matter, which fell well short of the required standards.
‘It is accepted that the original investigation fell short of what was required and expected of a professional police service.’
A number of people have already come forward to detectives in Cahersiveen, following the launch, on Tuesday, of their new murder investigation. They are appealing for anybody who knows anything to contact them. Gardaí want to DNA-test local residents depending on the information that is provided during the course of their inquiries. They will be asking people to allow their DNA to be taken.
Forensic Science Ireland, for the Department of Justice, was involved in providing the gardaí with a DNA test on a blood sample of Baby John that has now conclusively ruled Ms Hayes out as the baby’s mother.
It emerged last night that detectives look set to examine the deaths of two more babies.
Their bodies were found in Co. Kerry in the decade after the infamous Kerry Babies case in 1984. One was found near Listowel Race Course in 1993, the other on Waterville Beach in 1995, 12km from Cahersiveen.
On Tuesday, detectives relaunched a murder investigation into Baby John. That another baby boy’s body was found 12km away just over ten years later is of interest to detectives and is one of a number of lines of inquiry detectives are looking at.
The Irish Daily Mail asked gardaí last night if the deaths of the babies found in Waterville and Listowel will feature in the new investigation into the death of Baby John.
They were also asked if DNA samples taken from either baby could be compared with that belonging to Baby John.
And gardaí were also asked if the two babies’ DNA was not collected at the time, could one or both of them be exhumed for DNA tests.
A spokesperson replied: ‘Every avenue of inquiry will be fully investigated and the deaths referred to may become relevant to the Baby John inquiry.
‘The use of DNA science will be fully utilised if it can progress the Baby John investigation.’
‘It’s a matter of significant regret’