Inside the Crime

Having made false confessions to gardaí, Martin Conmey and Marty Kerrigan hoped the truth about what happened to Una Lynskey would emerge somehow, and this would lift the finger of suspicion. Her body was found before the end of 1971 and the investigation into her disappearance was upgraded to murder, but unfortunately it only added fuel to the fire of rumours already doing the rounds of Porterstown Lane. And very quickly afterwards, an act of misplaced vengeance would soon bring more tragedy to the lane.

Within an hour of Una's disappearance, the entire neighbourhood around Porterstown Lane was out looking for her. Soon enough, gardaí were on the scene and beginning their investigation, and a Ford car became a focus point. Una's body hadn't been found but the investigating officers were convinced within weeks they'd solved the case. Or had they?

Una Lynskey was 19 years old in October 1971, and she had a job with the Land Commission in Dublin City. On the evening of Tuesday 12th October, she stepped off a bus on the Fairyhouse Road near Ratoath, Co Meath when she hurried up Porterstown Lane towards her family's farm, a walk that would take no more than 15 minutes. She never made it home. A search began within the hour, but there was no sign of her. However, soon there were repeated descriptions of an unusual car on the lane that afternoon, and a number of locals in the area remembered hearing screams not long after Una got off the bus. Who would have taken her? And why?