Killer Dwyer vows to be out in time to watch final film in ‘Star Wars’ series
KILLER Graham Dwyer had a low-key celebration for his 46th birthday as he vowed to be a free man in time to watch the third and final instalment of the current ‘Star Wars’ film series.
Dwyer, who is serving life for the brutal murder of Dublin childcare worker Elaine O’Hara in 2012, marked his 46th birthday last Thursday in the Midlands Prison with a low-key celebration and a visit from his family.
Despite vowing to be released from behind bars on his 45th birthday in 2017, Dwyer is still waiting on his appeal against his murder conviction.
The full appeal is now unlikely to be heard and ruled on before mid-2019.
The architect is a major fan of science fiction films, and has now vowed to family and fellow inmates that he will be free in time to watch the third instalment of the current ‘Star Wars’ series, and the ninth overall, in an Irish cinema.
One prison source said the architect is “absolutely convinced” he will win his appeal and his freedom.
The native of Bandon, Co Cork, is a keen fan of aviation and aircraft modelling and has also told fellow inmates he is eagerly looking forward to the release of Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun 2’ in 2020.
Dwyer has complained about a near year-long delay in his being able to watch some major films in prison and lost privileges last year after being caught with a computer memory stick containing a spin-off ‘Star Wars’ film, ‘Rogue One’.
Dwyer, who is prisoner number 88335, is now largely only visited by his family.
Friends and former workmates have ceased all contact with him.
A noted aircraft model-maker, his interest in modelling and aviation is understood to have stemmed from toy replicas of the ‘Star Wars’ spacecraft he had as a child.
Science fiction films, music, family visits and card schools with his fellow inmates are Dwyer’s only distractions from preparations for his forthcoming appeal.
With no indication of when the High Court privacy action will be finally resolved, it is expected that the murder appeal may not be heard until 2019.
Dwyer’s family has been steadfastly loyal to him.
A vegetarian, he follows a strict fitness regime in prison.
The architect, of Kerrymount Close, Foxrock, Dublin, was convicted of murdering Ms O’Hara (36) on August 22, 2012.
The skeletal remains of the childcarer were found on Killakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, Dublin, on September 13, 2013.
His trial in March 2015 ranked as one of the most high-profile murder trials in Irish judicial history.
After a marathon hearing, the Central Criminal Court jury convicted Dwyer of stabbing Ms O’Hara to death for his own sexual gratification. He received a mandatory life sentence.
He was described at the trial as someone for whom “wickedness (was) hiding behind a mask of pity” and with a taste for violent sexual practices.