00:00:06
in
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1976 gentle giant Tom Nevan married an
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ambitious young woman 10 years his
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Junior Katherine Nevan was a self-made
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woman who basically came from nothing as
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business partners the couped look wildly
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successful but behind clothes doors
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their marriage was violent and abusive
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Tom was actually a battered husband and
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and he was hospitalized several times
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violence against men by women wasn't
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really talked about back then the way it
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is now when Tom Nevin was murdered his
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wife played The Grieving Widow to a tea
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but only she stood to benefit from the
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wealthy man's death he owned several
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properties and he had several life
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insurance
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policies who stands to gain on Tom's
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death the more it was looked at the more
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it was realized that it was
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Catherine Catherine nebin had been
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exposed as one of the world's most evil
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killers
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in the year 2000 Katherine nin's trial
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at Dublin Central criminal court for her
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husband Tom's murder had the press and
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the public captivated and horrified in
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equal measure it was Ireland pre-
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divorce pre-abortion and the idea of a
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woman who was so ambitious that she
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would um plot for 10 years to kill her
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husband it just gripped everyone's
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imagination she broke the mold Nevin's
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carefully Cur wardrobe and glamorous
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looks inspired fevered analysis in the
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Press she was dubbed the Black Widow but
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they were overly concerned with how Kat
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Nevan was dressed her demeanor in court
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and how she acted judge Mel Carol did
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say to the media that they do have a
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right to report on cases but this this
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would not outweigh Katherine evans's
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right to a fair
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trial Mel Carol had to ask the uh
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journalist to to please stop commenting
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on her outfits and her shoes her hair
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they even restricted taking photographs
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of her coming in and out of court
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Catherine Nevin's trial for murder was
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in keeping with a life in which she'd
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frequently CED attention and
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drama this killer Story begins on the
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1st of October 1950 in the east of
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Ireland Catherine Evan was born in 1950
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in a small village in Bali Donna in ner
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in County glair I visited the house and
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it was like it literally had a tin roof
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on the house so it's quite sort of
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modest start in Life author Neo Conor
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has researched Katherine Nevin's life
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starting with her childhood when she was
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known by her maiden name of Catherine
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Scully she had a sister and a brother
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they looked like a close family
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unusually for the time she did her
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leaving CT most people left after their
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inert so she must have been quite clever
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to have got to that point after school
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she did a secretarial course she went to
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Dublin to work in the Castle Hotel one
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of the oldest in the city she was young
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glamorous and
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ambitious Catherine Scully moved to
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Dublin in
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1969 a year or so later she met Tom
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Nevin her future husband at a festival
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in the town of Lun Vana in County CLA
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it's a traditional matchmaking Festival
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that goes on in down the south of
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Ireland and it's well attended and and
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uh it's always good good fun and and
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good crack Tom was the oldest of nine
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children from a little farming
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background in China in County gway Tom
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had married young and moved to England
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but when that didn't work out he'
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returned to Ireland and settled in
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Dublin where he was running a pub for
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his Uncle Tom was on his way to becom
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very wealthy he had uh a portfolio of
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property that he bought Katherine would
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have been aware that he was doing nicely
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he was building up a sizeable bank
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account Tom was a very physically tall
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man um he was 6'3 or
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four very quiet affable but easily
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manipulable and I think that's what
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appealed to the young Katherine Nevin
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who saw him as an opportunity to further
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her ambitions and so they formed a
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relationship Tom Nevin managed to get
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his first marriage an olded and in
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January
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1976 34-year-old Tom and Katherine
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Scully who was 25 were married in Rome
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but before the wedding had taken place
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she'd done something highly
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unusual before marrying Tom Catherine
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impersonated a social worker and she
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went to the home of Tom's former wife to
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try and get information from her about
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Tom and she asked her very intimate
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questions like just to make sure she
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knew everything about him it's
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incredibly manipulative it's almost
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stalking behavior and I think it's quite
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concerning satisfied that her spouse was
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the right man to help further her
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Ambitions The Newlywed Katherine nin
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wasted no time in in launching a range
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of money-making
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Ventures they were living in Rialto in
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Dublin and kathern was always very well
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presented well dressed and well groomed
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and she started lecturing in Beauty
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Department and um doubl in modeling
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school from her home RO
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Alro actually vanity was always kind of
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a feature in her in her life in the
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early 1980s nin persuaded her husband
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Tom that it was time to expand their
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business
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Empire he would have been happy to have
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according to people who knew him
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remained a Baran for the rest of his
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life but Katherine wanted the premises
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she wanted you know to be the
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boss there first Venture was in a public
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house in the fingas area of
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Dublin they got the pub in fingas h
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which had been like previously subjected
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to arson attacks and a lot of antisocial
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problems I think it was there that she
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first got a taste for Irish politics
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Shin Fain officers and indeed
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paramilitaries because it was a focal
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point it was in fingas that Katherine
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Nevin would meet some of the men who
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would later Loom large in her and her
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husband's Story the first in 1985 was
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convicted criminal Jerry
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heaps he was a man who was in the ira
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who had served time as an IRA prisoner
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10 years he served for armed robbery and
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when he was released from prison he was
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working um in an office attached to the
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shin faine constituency office making
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things that could be sold to raise funds
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for the Republican
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prisoners above the shinan advice Center
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was a TV repair shop run by an associate
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of heaps a shinan counselor called Jon
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Jones Katherine NE used to go and visit
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Jones in the local shinan office to
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discuss business matters with him and as
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a sort of quidd proquo she allowed
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shinan to distribute their newspaper in
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the finglass
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PB it was around this time in 1985 that
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cracks in Tom and Catherine's 9-year
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marriage first began to show when Mrs
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Nevin met a man called Willie
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mlan Willie mlan was a criminal he'd
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been involved in fraud and deception
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perhaps smuggling
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alcohol he was quite a murky character
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will because he was a Protestant um he
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was interested in unionism and
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loyalism I think Katherine Evan enjoyed
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the company of men she regarded as
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dangerous and there were quite a lot of
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those around not just the paramilitaries
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but also criminals there was something
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that gave her a frit of
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excitement according to him she was
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sitting at the bar drinking and he went
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up and started Ed uh chatting her up and
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um they they had an
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affair by the time she'd embarked on the
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affair with William mlan I mean she
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regarded Thomas useless partly because
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he was a bit too quiet and a bit too
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gentle and not nearly exciting enough he
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was a good businessman he's a good
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business head uh but he obviously got in
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her way Nevin's affair with mlan
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brazenly flaunted for her husband and
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the rest of the world to see was also
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confusing for those who knew what kind
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of men she'd been associating with since
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her move to
00:09:36
Dublin you have Katherine on the one
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hand interested in republicanism on the
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other hand having a relationship with a
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man on the other side of you know that
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whole sectarian divide was Nevin
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deliberately making contacts with men
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rumored to have criminal or paramilitary
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Connections in the hopes they could be
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useful to her in the future her fa with
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Willie mlan was just one sign of the
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difficulties she and her husband were
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having 9 years into their marriage
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accusations of alcohol abuse and
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violence had also begun to
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swirl the marriage was marred by a lot
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of alcohol Tom liked to drink and uh
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Katherine liked to drink and they were
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in an environment where drink was
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overflowing Katherine always maintained
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that Tom was a silent alcoholic that he
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hid it well from the the public but that
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uh she suffered as a
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result Katherine nebin complained to her
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male friends that her husband would beat
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her up after drinking in reality however
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it was Catherine not Tom who was capable
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of violence despite their marital
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difficulties in the spring of 1986 the
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neans set their sights on a new business
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venture I suppose Nevan had always got
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uh higher ideas and higher aspirations
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and wanted to maybe move to a more
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salubrious part of the country and they
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settled on Jack whites which they bought
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for uh a tidy sum at the time I think it
00:11:09
was about in the order of 270,000
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the draw of Jack White's Pub was that it
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was in an area brsh Bay County wicko
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which was where people uh with Holiday
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Homes
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went it's a long long Sandy Beach nice
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summmer day you could be forgiven for
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particular that you were in Spain or
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what costed us all one of these places
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it was on the road south from Dublin
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people who were driving South would
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stopped for lunch and they had a very
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good CV it was a very good place to stop
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at the Grand Opening of their new
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business in March 1986 Katherine nean
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aimed to make an
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impression naturally enough Katherine
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Nevin wanted to make a stir she invites
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all the people she knows from Dublin
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William mlan is there a man called Jerry
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Heat keeps is there with his wife and
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makes also makes sure that she gets all
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the local dignitaries that she
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knows I think Katherine was always sort
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of interested in your status and so for
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instance if the local judge came into
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the pub he would be given special
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treatment and feel the full sort of
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effect of her
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charms I think Katherine had a a
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personality type for her she wanted to
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get where whever she wanted to go and
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whoever was there to help her good bad
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or indiff she would use them to her
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Advantage she courted the local guard
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officers both on and off duty they'd be
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in the bar getting freebies and having
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drinks she would be behind the bar in
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her silk dressing gown and would be
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quite revealing and you know she had two
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little um I call them handbagged dogs
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but you know like fluffy dogs that were
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fed Kit Kats one of the other things
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that set Katherine Evan apart because
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she had cosmetic surgery she had eye
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lifts and fat removal and a tummy tuck
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most unusual in Ireland at that time cuz
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she wanted to be glamorous and
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attractive and a real
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figure in terms of the roles in the pub
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Tom would have been behind the bar and
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Katherine was very much like the hostess
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out sort of meeting and greeting now I
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say that but people would fall foul of
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her and she was regularly sort of Bing
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people she would bar are
00:13:29
indiscriminately for the most like
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ridiculous reasons you just take a
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dislike to someone and that would be
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it for staff who worked at Jack White's
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the contrast between Nevin and her
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husband Tom soon became apparent Tom
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Nevin would have been known to all his
00:13:46
staff and anybody that was in the pub as
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a gentle
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giant he was the kind of man who for
00:13:52
instance if staff needed advances on
00:13:54
their wages had no problem sort of
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giving it to them he never humiliated
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did anyone he always was very respectful
00:14:01
of the staff so people really loved him
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in the area across the board nobody had
00:14:07
any sort of time for Catherine she was
00:14:09
very abusive she would scream and shout
00:14:11
there was this huge difference between
00:14:12
the two characters there was a source of
00:14:14
Fascination how how these two ever got
00:14:17
together by the time the couple moved to
00:14:19
British Bay Katherine Nevin's marriage
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to Tom was increasingly
00:14:25
volatile Katherine could be very very
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violent and abusive towards him and when
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Katherine was drinking she was
00:14:32
especially violent they saw Katherine
00:14:35
throw a ashtray across the bar at him
00:14:37
one time um he was regularly sort of H
00:14:42
whacked by her we have to remember that
00:14:45
this was Ireland in the 1980s so the
00:14:49
understanding that men could be victims
00:14:51
of of domestic violence was something
00:14:54
that just wasn't spoken about I think
00:14:56
men would have found it shameful
00:14:59
it was a very kind of misogynistic
00:15:03
traditionalistic kind of culture that
00:15:07
was going on for everybody back in the
00:15:09
80s not just in Ireland if you can't
00:15:11
handle your woman what kind of a man are
00:15:14
you that's not how we think about it now
00:15:18
Tom Nevan was a very private man he
00:15:20
hated gossip so there might have been an
00:15:22
element where this would have been a
00:15:24
second failed marriage and Tom might
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have been very embarrassed about
00:15:27
admitting that to everybody
00:15:31
staff remembered one occasion when Tom
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had locked himself into the Jen's toilet
00:15:36
and could not be persuaded to come out
00:15:40
um and an ambulance was called for him
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but he refused to to leave in
00:15:46
it on several occasions Tom did end up
00:15:49
in hospital due to the assaults he got
00:15:51
from Catherine
00:15:53
Nevan as the years passed Catherine
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nevan's aggression continued
00:15:59
guardi may not have been aware of the
00:16:01
violence but they did have frequent
00:16:03
reason to visit the pub on official
00:16:06
business Katherine made a very high
00:16:08
number of allegations about crime so
00:16:11
there was always investigations in the
00:16:13
pub so the the local guards would have
00:16:14
been in and out taking statements you
00:16:16
know because she made a huge number of
00:16:18
insurance claims as well on the property
00:16:21
you know for items disappearing and so
00:16:23
on the multiple reports of criminal
00:16:26
activities and insurance claims by
00:16:28
Catherine neevan caused the guards to be
00:16:31
suspicious of insurance fraud although I
00:16:34
don't think any charges were brought
00:16:35
against
00:16:37
her despite moving out of Dublin in
00:16:40
Pursuit Of The High Life Nevin had not
00:16:42
lost her taste for fraternizing with
00:16:45
members of the criminal
00:16:47
underworld Duty Holland who also lived
00:16:49
in British Bay was going in and sitting
00:16:51
at the bar and talking to Catherine doy
00:16:53
Holland was career criminal from the
00:16:56
inner city who would have had a lot of
00:16:59
associations with members of criminal
00:17:02
gangs for an organized Gangland figure
00:17:06
of that kind of caliber to be sort of
00:17:09
networking with Katherine meant that she
00:17:11
had sort of
00:17:12
contacts local guardy called to Jack
00:17:15
White's in one morning in 1996 would
00:17:18
certainly have felt like Big City crime
00:17:21
had suddenly arrived in beautiful
00:17:23
British
00:17:25
Bay the 18th of March 1996 was
00:17:28
significant in that it was the 10th year
00:17:31
anniversary of their uh acquiring the
00:17:34
pub it was also a bank holiday
00:17:36
weekend it was St Patrick's weekend it
00:17:39
was a very busy weekend there were guest
00:17:41
rooms in the pub where Katherine Nevin
00:17:44
often allowed her employees to stay
00:17:46
after a late shift but the 18th of March
00:17:50
1996 was different the staff were going
00:17:54
to dance in
00:17:57
Arlo seven or eight mil mil away and
00:17:59
were're expecting to return to the pub
00:18:01
to sleep she tells the staff sorry you
00:18:04
can't stay here tonight the next anyone
00:18:07
heard from Katherine nin was at 4:30 the
00:18:10
following morning when a panic button at
00:18:13
the pub was pressed alerting the local
00:18:16
guarder station to a possible
00:18:19
problem when the guards arrived about
00:18:22
430 in the morning of the 19th of March
00:18:25
they found Katherine behind the pole
00:18:27
door on the floor slumped and the back
00:18:31
door
00:18:32
open Catherine was disheveled when the
00:18:34
guardi arrived on the scene she had a
00:18:37
dressing gown rope tied around her arms
00:18:39
she had managed to free her legs she had
00:18:42
been
00:18:43
gagged when the guards got to Katherine
00:18:47
nein to took the gag off released her
00:18:50
hands um she gave every impression of
00:18:53
being in a State of Shock her eyes
00:18:54
rolled back she said her shoulder
00:18:57
hurt dressed in a purple night shirt
00:19:00
45-year-old Nevin claimed to have been
00:19:03
awoken by a hooded man who pushed her
00:19:06
face into the pillow and threatened her
00:19:08
with a knife demanding to know where she
00:19:11
kept her
00:19:12
jewelry she said she heard the sound
00:19:15
downstairs of like a pot
00:19:18
dropping and that she could smell
00:19:20
gunshot
00:19:22
residue then she asked where's
00:19:27
Tom Tom nebin was found in the kitchen
00:19:30
he was lying on the floor in a pool of
00:19:33
blood with a single gunshot wound to his
00:19:37
side he's clearly dead and he was just
00:19:40
54 years old there was no sign of forced
00:19:44
entry nor that there' had been a
00:19:46
struggle at first glance all the signs
00:19:49
suggested Tom had been killed in a
00:19:52
botched robbery as the only other person
00:19:55
in the building when Tom was shot dead
00:19:58
Catherine Nevin was the only person who
00:20:00
could give guardi any clues that would
00:20:03
lead them to her husband's
00:20:10
killer when you'd go to a murder scene
00:20:13
you would round up whoever is there and
00:20:15
captured their account straight
00:20:18
away Katherine was very vague about uh
00:20:21
what had happened when it came down to
00:20:23
it she had heard uh a loud buying she
00:20:25
had heard the two cars leaving
00:20:29
uh but she wasn't of any great
00:20:32
assistance as to what actually had
00:20:35
occurred people can me quite distressed
00:20:37
and shocked if they witness a murder
00:20:39
particularly the murder of their husband
00:20:41
it's completely understandable that she
00:20:42
would have been so distraught that she
00:20:44
couldn't give a statement however it
00:20:47
is unusual that somebody who have had
00:20:50
their husband murdered didn't want to
00:20:52
give a statement to the guardi because
00:20:54
surely you'd want to give them every
00:20:56
tiny piece of information that you can
00:20:58
think of particularly when it's fresh in
00:21:00
your
00:21:01
mind after Tom's death Catherine did
00:21:04
behave in a way that people found
00:21:07
suspicious or unusual she didn't want to
00:21:10
go to the hospital and have her injuries
00:21:13
checked when you go to a scene like that
00:21:16
and somebody is saying that they were
00:21:17
tied up and all the
00:21:18
rest your first instinct is to look at
00:21:21
the the wounds look for the
00:21:25
ties guardi were suspicious of the fact
00:21:27
that there were no bind marks on
00:21:30
Katherine's ankles although her wrists
00:21:31
certainly did have uh binds on them um
00:21:34
her ankles were not uh marked two guardi
00:21:38
called for experienced forensic experts
00:21:41
to attend what clearly appeared to be a
00:21:43
murder as they waited they noticed some
00:21:46
unexpected features of the
00:21:49
scene there was
00:21:52
15,550 pounds taken the family car was
00:21:55
taken but the her jewelry none of it was
00:22:00
the jewelry that the Raiders were so
00:22:01
interested in was uh like placed down
00:22:04
the stairs and was in a trail out to a
00:22:06
ditch so they never actually took it in
00:22:07
the
00:22:08
end although Catherine insisted she'd
00:22:11
you know been attacked in her bedroom
00:22:13
and the drawers had been ransacked in
00:22:15
fact they hadn't been yanked out they'
00:22:16
been very carefully taken out by the
00:22:18
sides far from it being chaos a lipstick
00:22:21
was standing straight up on her dressing
00:22:24
table there were some odd features too
00:22:28
of Tom 's blood soaked body for a start
00:22:32
he was cold to the touch which suggested
00:22:36
that actually Tom had died a lot earlier
00:22:38
that it had taken a serious amount of
00:22:39
time before she set off that Panic
00:22:41
alarm his glasses were on his face and
00:22:45
the pathologist reckoned that the force
00:22:47
of the shot would have been such that
00:22:48
that could not have happened unless they
00:22:51
were placed back
00:22:53
there it was clear that Tom Nevan was
00:22:56
taken by surprise and that he had no
00:22:58
defensive wounds it said that he may
00:23:00
have been conscious for perhaps 30
00:23:02
seconds after he was shot but would have
00:23:04
bled out and died within 5 minutes later
00:23:07
that morning Nevin threw out suggestions
00:23:09
to detectives about what might have
00:23:12
happened to
00:23:14
Tom she claimed that he had been
00:23:16
followed when he was taking the money to
00:23:19
the bank the suggestion being that you
00:23:21
know this robbery had been planned for
00:23:22
some time by
00:23:24
criminals oh there were some very odd
00:23:26
people who came into the Kitchen last
00:23:29
week they told her they were looking for
00:23:31
the lbe but in fact they were actually
00:23:33
casing The Joint she claimed that there
00:23:35
had been attempted break in at the pub
00:23:38
and that she had seen this brown Renault
00:23:40
like outside Nevin seemed Keen to throw
00:23:44
suspicion on potential suspects in her
00:23:47
husband's death but she was not always
00:23:50
as helpful to
00:23:53
investigators in trying to establish the
00:23:55
amount of cash that was stolen guardy
00:23:58
would have gone back to um receipts on
00:24:02
tills and things like that to see how
00:24:04
much money was coming in she was
00:24:07
refusing to hand over till rolls which
00:24:09
would have you know aided the
00:24:10
investigation the guards wanted to
00:24:12
recreate some of the claims that
00:24:14
Katherine had made about being able to
00:24:15
smell gunpowder in her bedroom and so
00:24:18
they wanted to um basically discharge a
00:24:20
shot uh and see if the smell would
00:24:23
travel like had she lied or not H she
00:24:26
absolutely Point Blank refused
00:24:28
increasingly suspicious of the so-called
00:24:31
grieving Widow G officers continued to
00:24:35
investigate while Katherine Nevin
00:24:37
quickly made arrangements to bury her
00:24:41
husband there was a huge turnout at
00:24:43
Tom's funeral there was real shock and
00:24:46
upset in the community over the the
00:24:48
death of this man who um had provided
00:24:51
employment a friend to people in the
00:24:54
area and uh people were very upset by it
00:24:57
Katherine carried a ro and a sort of a
00:24:59
lace handkerchief the people who were
00:25:01
there felt that she was acting
00:25:05
apart Catherine would have the guardi
00:25:07
believed that uh she had a good solid
00:25:09
marriage that everything was honky Dory
00:25:13
when detectives began interviewing
00:25:15
friends family staff and customers a
00:25:18
different story quickly
00:25:20
emerged it soon became revealed that
00:25:24
their marriage was not good that there
00:25:28
was violence in that marriage and the
00:25:30
violence was coming from Catherine to
00:25:34
Tom and that Catherine was having
00:25:37
Affairs Nevin whose fling with Dublin
00:25:40
associate Willie mlan had ended in late
00:25:44
1986 was later believed to have had
00:25:47
extra marital relationships with at
00:25:49
least two other
00:25:52
men when you start digging into to
00:25:55
somebody's life you're going to be
00:25:56
looking for MO
00:25:59
who had a motive to kill Tom that's one
00:26:03
of the key key questions it was found
00:26:06
through this process when they're
00:26:08
investigating Tom's life that really he
00:26:10
didn't have any enemies he he was a
00:26:12
popular man he was kind he was gentle it
00:26:16
was Catherine who was who was the
00:26:22
problem if infidelity wasn't motive
00:26:25
enough guardi soon uncovered another
00:26:27
reason nein might want her husband
00:26:31
dead the months prior to um Tom's murder
00:26:34
Katherine had taken out a massive life
00:26:36
insurance policy on his uh unexpected
00:26:40
demise and uh so she was set to you know
00:26:43
cash in on I think was over 100 Grand as
00:26:46
a result of her husband's
00:26:47
murder Tom had amassed quite a
00:26:51
considerable amount of money and his
00:26:53
property and dealings and there was no
00:26:56
children there there was only one so
00:26:59
benefactor and that was
00:27:01
Katherine so it's all sort of stacking
00:27:04
up against Catherine very early on there
00:27:09
was one problem with the theory that
00:27:11
Catherine Nevin may have killed her
00:27:13
husband to get her hands on his fortune
00:27:16
at the time of his death her hands
00:27:18
appear to have been tied very firmly
00:27:21
behind her back Nevin had the motive and
00:27:24
the opportunity to kill Tom but perhaps
00:27:27
not the means to pull the trigger
00:27:30
herself then 24 days after Tom's murder
00:27:34
the Garder made a discovery that was a
00:27:37
blast from Katherine nin's
00:27:40
past when guardi searched Catherine's
00:27:43
bedroom and took various items for
00:27:45
further tests they found in a contacts
00:27:47
book names that rying bells one of them
00:27:50
was Jerry heaps whose number had been uh
00:27:52
scratched out heaps was the former Ira
00:27:56
prisoner from fingas whom had invited
00:27:59
along with his wife to the grand opening
00:28:01
of Jack White's Inn 10 years
00:28:05
earlier but Katherine denied ever
00:28:07
knowing or meeting Jerry heaps suspicion
00:28:11
was strong that Nevin had been involved
00:28:13
in her husband's murder and that perhaps
00:28:16
she had an accomplice but the guarder
00:28:18
had no way of proving
00:28:21
it there certainly wasn't enough
00:28:23
evidence to go to the DPP just from the
00:28:27
crime scene from the pathologist report
00:28:31
the guardi needed some sort of
00:28:34
cooperation somebody to come forward and
00:28:37
say yeah you're on the right
00:28:39
lines Katherine nean was arrested in
00:28:42
July for possession of a firearm it
00:28:44
wasn't suspected at any time that this
00:28:46
actually was the murder weapon however
00:28:49
they decided to arrest her due to the
00:28:50
license being
00:28:52
expired they believed that she had had
00:28:56
Tom murdered and they couldn't bring her
00:28:58
in for questioning on murder without um
00:29:02
a warrant that and and to get the
00:29:03
warrant they needed really you know
00:29:05
substantial evidence that she was a a
00:29:08
suspect so they used this technicality
00:29:10
of this unauthorized firearm to bring
00:29:13
her in to see if they could get her to
00:29:14
crack obviously she knew better and she
00:29:17
refused to talk she knew what was going
00:29:19
on this was the
00:29:22
dance Nevin was held for 48 hours she
00:29:26
refused food and did not answer answer
00:29:28
any questions detectives were no closer
00:29:31
to finding out exactly what had happened
00:29:33
to innocent Publican Tom Nevin not
00:29:36
approving who' killed
00:29:39
him then in December 1996 almost 9
00:29:43
months after Tom's murder two men from
00:29:46
Katherine nebin fingler past came out of
00:29:49
the woodwork with a jaw-dropping
00:29:52
story Jon Jones and Jerry heaps both
00:29:56
came forward to say that they they had
00:29:58
been solicited by Catherine over a long
00:30:00
period of time to kill Tom Jerry heaps
00:30:04
told the Gard that Katherine nean used
00:30:06
to visit him regularly in his fingas
00:30:08
office he said to the guards that
00:30:11
despite her moving to wicko she
00:30:13
continued to visit him on regular
00:30:14
occasions she had asked heaps on 10
00:30:18
occasions to murder Tom and she even
00:30:20
went as far as to suggest ways that he
00:30:22
could do
00:30:24
it he said he went out with her on
00:30:26
multiple occasions he visited the house
00:30:29
of flats that Tom rented um uh where
00:30:32
Katherine showed him uh how he could you
00:30:35
know suddenly jump out and surprise Tom
00:30:37
and kill him she also suggested to him
00:30:41
quite elaborately that perhaps he would
00:30:43
do it while they were at dinner together
00:30:45
so that she could have Tom dying in her
00:30:47
arms no doubt to be used as an alibi for
00:30:49
the
00:30:50
solicitation Nevin then said she wanted
00:30:53
Tom killed in the pub to make it look
00:30:56
like a robbery and she could pay the
00:30:58
killer up to £40,000
00:31:01
around the same time Nevan was meeting
00:31:04
with Jon Jones she told him that her
00:31:06
husband was a violent drunk and beat her
00:31:08
up and asked him to kill him so she went
00:31:11
into a local politician's Clinic looking
00:31:13
to have her husband murdered by a shin
00:31:16
Fane H counselor like it's incredible
00:31:19
that she would be so Brazen as to even
00:31:21
ask both men had refused Nevin's request
00:31:25
neither of them had reported her scheme
00:31:27
at the time nor had they warned Tom
00:31:29
Nevin about the plot on his life but as
00:31:32
suspicion against Katherine Nevin grew
00:31:35
in the months after Tom's death nevan's
00:31:37
Associates were coming under intense
00:31:40
scrutiny were interviewed and realized
00:31:43
that the net was closing in on them and
00:31:45
that it was better to cooperate than uh
00:31:49
be found as as a suspect Catherine nebin
00:31:54
longtime Associates had turned on her a
00:31:57
devastating blow to her claims of
00:32:00
innocence in the murder of her husband
00:32:03
Tom then a third man went to detectives
00:32:06
one with whom Nevin had had a torrid
00:32:09
Affair some 10 years earlier in 1990
00:32:13
Katherine Nevin was in hospital in
00:32:15
Dublin and asked her former lover Willie
00:32:18
mlan to visit her when he did he was met
00:32:22
with a disturbing
00:32:25
[Music]
00:32:26
offer she approached William mle and
00:32:30
said something along the lines that
00:32:31
there's 20 grand in it for you to get
00:32:33
rid of
00:32:34
Tom just like the other two men mlan had
00:32:38
firmly refused to help Nevin kill her
00:32:40
husband in fact he was horrified at the
00:32:45
request I think it's an arrogance in her
00:32:48
that she probably thinks everybody
00:32:50
thinks like her and when actually they
00:32:53
don't I think she's
00:32:55
probably quite cold
00:32:59
probably without remorse and would just
00:33:03
have assumed that these people were
00:33:05
exactly the same the fact that three
00:33:08
people came forward it changed the game
00:33:10
dramatically because here they were all
00:33:13
saying more or less the same thing uh
00:33:15
they were all pointing the figure in the
00:33:17
One Direction it was
00:33:19
consistent presented with these claims
00:33:22
nebin simply told investigators to
00:33:25
contact her lawyer months p with no
00:33:28
further developments Tom Nevin's death
00:33:31
was still officially unsolved the
00:33:33
culprit still on the
00:33:36
loose the statements from these tree men
00:33:39
would allow and may support a charge for
00:33:41
tree solicitation charges but not murder
00:33:44
and the problem with Katherine nans case
00:33:45
is they didn't have any clear Smoking
00:33:48
Gun
00:33:49
evidence in fact investigators still had
00:33:52
no murder weapon at all nor any idea
00:33:56
about who might have pulled the
00:33:58
Trier and they were also worried because
00:34:00
she had she had such contact you know
00:34:03
and she she was capable of anything you
00:34:05
know that they really feared that the
00:34:07
case would never come to the
00:34:09
court finally more than a year after Tom
00:34:12
Nevin was murdered prosecutors were
00:34:15
confident they had a case that would
00:34:18
stick they believed that the weight of
00:34:21
circumstantial evidence along with the
00:34:23
corroborating statements of the three
00:34:25
men were sufficient to prove Catherine
00:34:28
Nevin's guilt so on the 14th of April
00:34:31
1997 13 months after Tom's death
00:34:34
Catherine was finally charged today
00:34:37
members of the investigating team took
00:34:39
Mr nevan's Widow Catherine into custody
00:34:41
there she was charged with the murder of
00:34:43
her husband and with soliciting others
00:34:45
to murder him in 1989 and
00:34:50
1990 when Catherine neans trial began at
00:34:53
the criminal courts of Justice in Dublin
00:34:56
on the 12th of January 2000 it was a
00:34:59
media circus as journalist Neo Connor
00:35:04
recalls the courtroom was packed every
00:35:06
day the case had absolutely captured the
00:35:09
public imagination because uh well it
00:35:11
was a female murderer and that was very
00:35:13
rare at the time she was a glamorous
00:35:17
woman she was you know quite a Confident
00:35:22
Woman but that was
00:35:25
overshadowing that this love man had
00:35:28
been murdered and perhaps it was
00:35:31
actually taking away from the
00:35:32
seriousness of what had
00:35:36
happened after opening statements the
00:35:39
prosecution began to lay out their case
00:35:41
against Katherine Nevin but on the 26th
00:35:44
of January after dozens of witnesses had
00:35:47
already taken the stand the trial
00:35:50
abruptly
00:35:51
collapsed the first trial collapsed
00:35:54
because the jurors overheard discussing
00:35:56
the case they mustn't discuss the case
00:35:58
until all the evidence is heard so that
00:35:59
they can go into the trial with an open
00:36:01
mind and not having somebody convicted
00:36:04
before they they've heard all of the
00:36:06
evidence the second trial was convened
00:36:09
and that was on the 8th of February 2000
00:36:12
and it collapsed because a uh a member
00:36:16
of the jury fell ill it was around this
00:36:20
time that Katherine Nevin who was out on
00:36:22
bail made another attempt to avoid
00:36:25
facing trial for Tom's murder
00:36:28
she claimed that someone had broken into
00:36:30
her house and tried to kill her and she
00:36:32
was hospitalized as a result now now
00:36:34
bear in mind this person who broke into
00:36:35
the house H did so while there was a
00:36:38
guard guarding her property to make sure
00:36:41
that nothing happened and she didn't try
00:36:43
and evade
00:36:47
Justice Nevin claimed the attacker had
00:36:50
threatened her and forced her to drink a
00:36:52
milk-like
00:36:54
liquid after she was hospitalized the
00:36:56
contents of her stomach analyzed and the
00:36:59
conclusion was that she had drunk uh
00:37:02
water and fairy liquid to make herself
00:37:04
sick it was all very dramatic all very
00:37:08
unusual with nin's avoidance tactics
00:37:12
thwarted on the 14th of February 2000
00:37:15
the retrial finally began with a fresh
00:37:19
jury it was one of the longest trials at
00:37:22
the time in history there were 170
00:37:25
witnesses there were the states made
00:37:27
main Witnesses who claims that Catherine
00:37:29
had solicited them to kill
00:37:32
Tom she gave contradicting evidence
00:37:35
throughout the trial she had multiple
00:37:37
extramarital Affairs she had been openly
00:37:39
violent towards Tom so there was a huge
00:37:41
credibility issue for Catherine nean
00:37:44
which then trying to deny the
00:37:46
solicitation that would have caused
00:37:48
issues because it was
00:37:50
incredible the motivation according to
00:37:53
the prosecution was money by some
00:37:56
estimations Nevin stood to gain up to1
00:37:59
million pounds from his
00:38:02
death it's the oldest motive in the book
00:38:05
take the money and get rid of Tom in the
00:38:07
early part of 1997 before she was
00:38:09
arrested she'd
00:38:11
sold the pub for three times what they'd
00:38:14
PID for it I mean she was now a rich
00:38:17
woman potentially she didn't want to
00:38:20
leave Tom because that would have meant
00:38:22
splitting her Fortune she wanted it
00:38:25
all Catherine
00:38:28
strongly denied a plot to have her
00:38:29
husband killed she said their marriage
00:38:32
was happy but she also made a range of
00:38:35
false accusations against her late
00:38:38
husband she called him an alcoholic she
00:38:40
called him a paramilitary he was an
00:38:43
Irish Republican in other words to prove
00:38:46
that he had a lot of enemies after a 6-
00:38:49
week trial one of the longest criminal
00:38:51
trials in Irish legal history the jury
00:38:54
retired to consider their verdict
00:38:58
the judge's Direction had been very very
00:39:01
specific you know she had said that
00:39:03
although there was a lot of uh
00:39:05
circumstantial evidence that
00:39:06
circumstantial evidence should be
00:39:08
regarded as like the strands in a rope
00:39:11
and that the more strands there are the
00:39:14
stronger the Rope is for many in the
00:39:16
courtroom it was a long tense wait for a
00:39:21
verdict it took the jury 5 days and
00:39:25
that's 5 days for the investigation team
00:39:28
knowing that they've done the best that
00:39:29
they can but uh still you know did we do
00:39:34
enough did we not do enough will there
00:39:36
be a
00:39:37
retrial Catherine Nevin showed no signs
00:39:40
of apprehension about her
00:39:43
fate I remember one day her barister was
00:39:46
you know offering a coffee for her like
00:39:48
to bring it back into the court while
00:39:50
she was waiting there and uh she turned
00:39:52
around to me and she asked would I like
00:39:54
a coffee as well and on other occasions
00:39:57
uh uh you know she was talking and
00:39:59
joking about who would play her in the
00:40:01
movie so she was very very relaxed she
00:40:03
absolutely believed that she was going
00:40:05
to walk 5 days in court is a long time
00:40:08
when you are waiting and when at any
00:40:10
time you know the knock can come on the
00:40:12
jury door just after halfast 6 the
00:40:15
atmosphere inside and outside the court
00:40:17
was electrified as the jury announced
00:40:19
their
00:40:21
verdict the verdict was Katherine Nevan
00:40:24
was found guilty of murder and she was
00:40:26
found guilty of the tree solicitation
00:40:29
charges Nevan got the mandatory life
00:40:33
sentence for murder and 7even years for
00:40:35
each of the soliciting charges to run
00:40:38
concurrently she was in the women's wing
00:40:41
of Mount Joy prison in
00:40:44
Dublin probably one of the most famous
00:40:46
female prisoners in Irish legal
00:40:50
history in 2003 she appealed her
00:40:53
conviction she alleged that Jack White's
00:40:55
Pub was an IRA Pub which to support her
00:40:58
contention that he was killed by the
00:41:00
IRA Catherine never accepted that she
00:41:03
was guilty Katherine always had a very
00:41:06
high opinion of herself and always
00:41:08
thought her high and mighty contacts or
00:41:10
someone in a White Horse would ride in
00:41:12
and and and save the
00:41:14
day she appealed again in 2010 she tried
00:41:18
to get miscarriage of Justice proved and
00:41:21
that too was turned
00:41:24
down while continuing to protect her
00:41:27
innocence nein also pursued the fortune
00:41:31
she believed was rightfully hers she did
00:41:35
try even while she was in prison to get
00:41:38
the property portfolio she thought that
00:41:41
she should inherit it as his wife but
00:41:43
thankfully Tom's Family were able to
00:41:46
challenge that and Catherine failed in
00:41:49
her quest to benefit from Tom's
00:41:52
death even if she had that money what's
00:41:55
she going to do with it and a life
00:41:57
Senter sentence what's she really what's
00:41:59
she going to do with it so some of this
00:42:01
is about control and selfishness and
00:42:05
resentment in August 2017 Nevin left
00:42:09
prison to live out the last 6 months of
00:42:12
her
00:42:13
life Nevan was found to have a brain
00:42:16
tumor and was terminally ill and was
00:42:19
given compassionate
00:42:21
release she lived only a few months
00:42:23
after she was released to a hospice
00:42:25
still maintaining her innocence
00:42:28
in Dublin Wicklow and wherever Katherine
00:42:31
nevan's influence reached the effects of
00:42:34
her words and her actions are still
00:42:36
being felt not least for Tom nin's
00:42:40
family the lies that she told and the
00:42:42
lives that she wrecked in the process of
00:42:45
sort of killing him and that the false
00:42:48
Trails of suspicion that she pointed at
00:42:51
completely innocent people like we
00:42:55
devastating I think there's an evilness
00:42:58
about Catherine because she's so
00:43:00
determined and seems to be so without
00:43:03
any genuine concern for anybody but
00:43:08
herself dubb the Black Widow by the
00:43:11
media for her ruthless predatory actions
00:43:14
Katherine Nevin has become a notorious
00:43:17
figure determined from a young age to
00:43:19
live a life of status and wealth her
00:43:22
husband Tom was perhaps seen as a
00:43:24
stepping stone to success then as an
00:43:27
obstacle to the life she believed she
00:43:30
[Music]
00:43:32
deserved though convinced she could get
00:43:34
away with murder Nevin's Brazen scheming
00:43:38
left a trail of witnesses and ensured
00:43:40
she will always be recognized as one of
00:43:43
the world's most evil killers
00:43:48
[Music]
