Sign the petition the Plunkett family have set up to seek justice for Elizabeth

On 28th August 1976, 23 year old Elizabeth Plunkett got into her boyfriend's car and drove away from her home in Ringsend. She went to meet friends for a night away in Brittas Bay in Wicklow. When Elizabeth waved goodbye to her mother that afternoon, nobody knew that it would be the last time anyone from her family would see her.

Later that night, Elizabeth would be abducted and brutally raped and murdered by Ireland’s first serial killers - two men who had been recently released from prison.

Elizabeth Plunkett was the middle child of a family of eight siblings. She loved fashion, music and travel. In 1976 – a record-breakingly hot summer – Elizabeth was in love with her new boyfriend and she had just had a magical summer full of travel and fun. Now in the last weekend of the summer, she was going to have a night away with friends.

John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans were two men from the north of England. They were in Ireland, hiding out from charges of rape in the UK. And on the night of 28th August 1976 they were looking for women.

As Shaw and Evans were driving around the roads of Brittas Bay, Elizabeth was inside a pub called McDaniel’s. When her boyfriend Damien started arguing with a friend over a car, Elizabeth got annoyed. She left the pub – alone. This was when Shaw and Evans would find her.

After Shaw and Evans murdered Elizabeth, they travelled west, to Mayo. Another young woman, 23 year old Mary Duffy, would be their next victim, and she too was abducted, raped and murdered by the two men.

Shaw and Evans later admitted to killing both of the woman. Not only that, but they said that if they had not been found by Gardaí they were intending on doing the same thing to one woman a week.

Geoffrey Evans died in prison in 2012, and John Shaw remains in prison. Almost two years ago, Shaw applied for parole and because of this, the Plunkett family were contacted by the Parole Board.

This process opened a box of emotions that had been kept locked away for many years.

However, it was though this process, that the Plunketts realised that nothing was as it seemed – and that there had, in fact, been no justice for their sister Elizabeth in all of these years.

Now, through RTÉ’s latest podcast, Stolen Sister, presented by Roz Purcell, Elizabeth’s siblings – Bernie and Kathleen – are speaking out. This is the first time that any of Elizabeth’s family have spoken about her death publicly in almost fifty years. And they hope that through this they will finally get some justice for their sister Elizabeth.

Credits:

Stolen Sister is written and produced by Nicoline Greer with production assistance from Shauna McGreevy. Roz Purcell is the host. Original music soundtrack performed and composed by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck, together with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Gavin Maloney. Sound design and orchestra recording by Ciarán Dunne. The executive producer is Liam O'Brien. Audio Product Support by Nigel Wheatley. Marketing by Maria Buckley and Christopher Hayes. Design and creatives by Darragh Treacy. Publicity by Sarah Neville. Sales by Graeme Bailey and additional online editorial content by Anna Joyce.