Irene McBride

Vigil on Good Friday 6th April 2012 from 12:00pm

On Good Friday 6th April 2012, Anne Delcassian will hold a vigil in the Ice House Hill Park, Demesne Road Dundalk from 12:00pm. The vigil is to mark the seventh anniversary of Irene White (nee Mc Bride) who was brutally murdered on 6th April 2005, a Wednesday morning, in The Ice House which is located next to the park.
The vigil is an opportunity for friends and family to remember Irene, a loving and wonderful Mam, a true friend, a dear sister. I also welcome other families of victims to come to the vigil and remember their own loved ones, and to stand with me when I call for change in this Government’s failed Policies. 
But more importantly to also remind those conspirators intimately involved in the planning of Irene’s brutal murder, that their names are very much on the lips of so many.

Irene left her home, on 6th April 2005 driving her three children to school. However, Irene returned home and a man we believe known to Irene murdered Irene in her kitchen. Today I ask this man, who was allegedly seen running through The Ice House Hill Park, on 6th April 2005, and who got into a dark coloured car parked with its engine revving in O’Hanlon Park. 
‘Why? Why did you murder Irene? Why did you show no mercy to my beautiful sister?’ 
I would like to meet you and ask you to face me, and answer my questions. Did you not know that my mother would discover her beloved daughter’s body, with the wounds you had left and the blood pouring onto the kitchen floor? This killed my mother. It was such a cruel, cruel deed.
I held a vigil for Irene, on 6th April 2007, Irene’s second anniversary also a Good Friday. At that time I represented the 126 women murdered as a result of violence. These statistics have been recorded by Women’s Aid since 1996. There are so many female victims of homicide prior to this date, and I would like to remember them. Now the figure stands at over 174 female homicide victims. So nothing has changed in the last five years. I feel it is relevant to also mention male victims of homicide, as a result of domestic violence however the numbers are considerably lower than female victims.
Irene is now a statistic among the 207 Cold Cases, or unresolved murders in Ireland. Irene’s photo is on the An Garda Siochana website, asking for information. Irene’s beautiful face looks at you smiling as she always did. But Irene knew she was going to be killed. I believe Irene visited the local Garda station, in Dundalk, a five minute walk away over fifteen times, concerned for her safety, and telling so many different on duty Garda that she was in fear of her life. I often wonder how Irene felt inside knowing this terror, as her companion every day.
The vigil on 6th April 2012 is about CHANGE;
I want to look at what changes can be made to make women safer in their own homes.
How change can be implemented and developed.
At the vigil I will be launching “The European Alliance Justice For Families”, The organisation will be looking for 3 strands of change,
Development of Family Justice Centres in Europe
Justice for Families
Changes in Legislation

It is anticipated that the group will launch this autumn in Ireland.

Serious Crime Review Team contact details:

Contact details for anyone with information about Irene's horrific murder that took place on 6th April 2005. Are as follows:

Detective Superintendent Christopher Mangan, Serious Crime Review Team, National Bureau of Criminal Investigations
 
Email:                                        nbci.scrt@garda.ie
Garda Confidential Line:                      1800 666 111
Crimestoppers:                                1800 250 025
Serious Crime Review Team Office:             01 666 3444
Dundalk Garda Station:                        042 9335577
Anne Delcassian's solicitor, Frank Mc Donnel: 042 9335384

50th Birthday Message

Irene White (Nee Mc Bride) should be celebrating on the 22nd October 2011 her 50th birthday with friends and family. No doubt there would be a wonderful party to celebrate this happy time. We must not forget Maureen Mc Bride (Mo), who found Irene's body in the ice house and died on the 22nd of October 2005, six months later, and who is remembered now on the sixth anniversary of her death.
 
It makes no sense to me as a loving daughter and a loving sister, that these two wonderful people are no longer with us. There is a void in all of our hearts and a sense of pain and grief which is ongoing.
 
As Irene's only sister and eldest daughter of Maureen (Mo) then leave your own special thoughts and memories of these two special family, friends and colleagues. May the angels hear our voices. God bless to you both dearest Irene and Mo. Slan xxxx

Murdered mum’s secret diary shows she lived in fear.

The following article is reposted here by kind permission of the Independent:

EXTRACTS from the secret diary of murdered Dundalk mum-of three Irene White are to appear in a new book.
Intimate details of her life will be revealed in the publication, which has been prepared by her grieving sister.
The diary segments will provide a fresh insight into her final months.
Irene was found in a pool of blood in the kitchen of her home in Dundalk, Co Louth, on April 6, 2005.
No one has ever been charged with the murder, but her sister, Anne Delcassian, says she is now hopeful of a breakthrough, after the murder was referred to the garda’s cold case unit.
Ms Delcassian has written a book about Irene's life and death which will include her sister’s own words.
Anne, who now lives in Manchester, said she would publish the book when the case had been brought to some sort of conclusion. She told the Herald that reading her sister's diary was a traumatic experience.
“It was very difficult to read – to see my sister under such terrible stress in the way she lived,” Anne said.
It was out before that Irene lived in fear of her life.
“She records some of this in her diary.”
Anne first discussed the possibility of writing a book with her mother in the months after 43-year-old Irene's death.
REVIEW
As well as her sister's diary, Anne has herself kept a diary since the day of the murder containing details of conversations she had with her mother.
“My mother cried for this so many times,” she revealed.
She is convinced Irene, who would have been 50 on October 22, “knew her killer”.
“The truth needs to be told about what happened to her. I read the book which Rachel O'Reilly's mother wrote and it really encouraged me to write this,” she said. Anne was also pleased that the murder investigation had been referred to the garda's cold case unit and has great hopes of a breakthrough.
Last March, the Garda Serious Crime Review team confirmed it was reviewing the horrific murder.
The cold case unit has probed a number of high-profile cases – securing the conviction of Vera McGrath for the murder of her husband Brian McGrath in Co Westmeath 23 years ago.
Irene was stabbed to death in her home at Ice House, The Demesne, after taking her children to school.
She was found by her elderly mother later that morning. Her mother then died shortly afterwards, on Irene's birthday.
INFORMATION
Although several people have been questioned about the murder, no one has ever been charged.
A man who was seen running from the vicinity of Ice House at approximately 10.15am on the day in question has never been identified.
The man was described as being aged between 30 and 40 and wearing jeans, a dark jacket and a cap.
Anyone with information should contact them on 042 9335577 or on the confidential telephone number 1800 666 111.

Sophie Toscan du Plantier Press Release

Press Release
August 15, 2011

The Association for the truth about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier welcomes the agreement made by the Irish Police to assist and provide information when requested by Judge Gachon.

In this new legal context French authorities will be in a position to send a team of investigators to Ireland next month, to interview witnesses and review evidence almost fifteen years after the murder.

This agreement and cooperation between the police authorities of both countries is an important step in the pursuit of obtaining justice for Sophie.

assoph0793@orange.fr http://web.me.com/assoph/ASSOPH/Welcome.html