Vincent Blackwell was strangled by one of his neighbours in Finglas, Dublin, in July 1971. The other child was 15 at the time.

Vincent was the baby in the family and "doted on". He was known in the area for always singing a pop song of the time, "Where’s Your Mamma Gone?"

The killer, named ‘J’ in the documentary, had previously invited Vincent’s older brother into his house where he tried to strangle him, as a ’trick’. Then he asked him to take down his trousers. The older brother refused and ‘J’ just said he was messing.

He then asked Vincent’s older brother to go to the shops and buy sweets. As Vincent’s brother left ‘J’s’ house, Vincent was sitting on the kerb outside playing with the melting tar using lollipop sticks. He asked Vincent to come with him but Vincent refused. When Vincent’s brother returned from the shops with the sweets, Vincent was nowhere to be seen and J took the sweets through the barely-opened door of his house.

Later that night, Vincent’s body was discovered some distance away on Watery Lane - the spot is now covered by a roundabout on the Dublin-Derry road. J had taken the body there hidden under bottles in a pram. He had killed Vincent by strangling him with a nylon stocking.

J’s crime was discovered when he commented to a neighbour about the murder before it was generally known.

He was arrested and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Because his plea was accepted there was no opportunity for Vincent’s family to find out in court what happened to Vincent and why.

For the documentary, J spoke to the producer but not on tape. He said that he thought about the killing "every day". He explained that he himself was targeted by a sexual predator in the area but did not see that as an excuse for what he did. He says that he has blanked the day of the killing from his mind.

J was released from prison when he was 20 years of age. He married quickly, had children and separated. At the time of the documentary, he was homeless.

Narrated and produced by Ronan Kelly

First broadcast in the year 2000

An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries