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.
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