Convicted murderer John Crerar, who evaded justice for two decades, has died while serving a life sentence for killing 23-year-old Phyllis Murphy in 1979.
Ms Murphy was abducted in Co Kildare while waiting for a bus. Her naked body was found in mid-January 1980 in the Wicklow Gap - 30 kilometres from where she was last seen alive - after a massive search across Kildare and Wicklow.
The last sighting of her was in the days before Christmas, when she was walking towards a bus stop in Newbridge, from where she intended to travel home to Kildare town.
Last year the family of Ms Murphy told Prime Time of their fear that Crerar would be granted parole and return to Co Kildare.
Cold case conviction
Crerer's murder trial was held in 2002 after DNA breakthroughs led to blood samples given by him in 1980 being matched two decades later with semen samples recovered from Ms Murphy's body.
For 20 years the semen recovered from Ms Murphy’s body could only provide a match to a blood group, but in 1999 scientists in England were able to generate a full DNA profile from the sample using new techniques.
The profile was a match with Crerar, a former soldier originally from Co Tipperary but who was living in Kildare, having left the Army in the mid 1970s. Crerar had aroused the suspicion of a garda in 1980, and he was one of a number of men who had voluntarily given blood samples when requested that year.
In July 1999 Crerar was arrested and charged with the cold case murder. He was granted bail and remained on bail until he was convicted in October 2002. Despite the DNA match, Crerar continued to deny his guilt.
Given the nature of his crime he was one of a number of men whose movements were assessed by detectives investigating the unsolved cases of other women who were attacked or who disappeared in Leinster.
RTÉ's Prime Time understands that as late as last November Crerar was denied parole, being told that he could not apply for parole again until 2026.
It is understood that John Crerar took ill at Arbour Hill Prison last Friday and was transferred to Dublin’s Mater Hospital where he died on Saturday. He was 76 years old.
When asked for comment the Irish Prison Service told RTÉ in a statement that it could confirm the death of a person in custody in Arbour Hill Prison and extended sympathies to family and friends of the deceased.
RTÉ understands that the family of Phyllis Murphy is also aware of the death of John Crerar.
