Two of Britain’s worst ever serial killers, who have been forgotten by history, may finally face justice after the Gardai face pressure to open a cold case against them.
Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw travelled from the UK to Ireland to carry out a pre-planned crime spree in the 1970s before being caught and sentenced to life in prison.
They were dubbed Ireland’s first serial killers after fleeing from England with a plan to rape and murder a new woman each week in the Emerald Isle.
After their arrest, they confessed to the murder of both Mary Duffy from Galway, and Elizabeth Plunkett, who was originally from Ringsend in Dublin.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew charges related to Elizabeth’s death and the pair were only convicted for Mary’s murder back in 1978. They were sentenced to life in prison.
Now, eight women have come forward to allege they were potentially targeted by the serial killers, whiles the family of Plunkett have launched a fresh call for a cold case review.
Shaw, now in his late 70s, is said to be a ‘nervous wreck’ behind bars and worried that further cases will stop his chances of day release, according to Irish media. Evans died behind bars in 2012.
Speaking on RTÉ podcast Stolen Sister, Elizabeth’s family have shared their fight for justice and recounted one of the most horrifying chapters of their lives.
Since the launch of the podcast, eight women have come forward to allege they were potentially targeted by serial killers.
Ireland’s first serial killers who confessed to the rape and murder of Elizabeth Plunkett were never convicted of her murder
Two English drifters Geoffrey Evans (left) and John Shaw (right), had travelled to Ireland to carry out a pre-planned crime spree to rape and murder one woman a week until they were caught
Solicitor James McGuill, who represents Elizabeth Plunkett’s family, is gathering the testimonies.
One witness said she was hit by a car on the way home from a pub on the same night Plunkett was killed by the pair after leaving the same pub.
More women have come forward with ‘strikingly similar accounts of being pursued by these two guys,’ Mr McGuill told the Irish Times.
In August 1976, Elizabeth had travelled to Brittas Bay, Wicklow, for a weekend away with her boyfriend Damian and a group of friends.
After having a trivial quarrel with her boyfriend at McDaniels pub she left alone and accepted a ride from two men in a van, who were on the hunt for women.
The 23-year-old was dragged into Castletimon Woods, where she was raped and strangled to death with her own blouse sleeve before the killers weighed her body down with a lawn‑mower and dumped her at sea.
Her distraught family and friends launched a frantic search but four weeks later her remains washed ashore on Duncormick Beach and she was identified through dental records.
Speaking on the podcast, Kathleen Nolan and Bernie Plunkett, sisters of Elizabeth who are now in their 60’s, recounted the moment their family were told of their sister’s disappearance.
Elizabeth, who was originally from Ringsend in Dublin, had travelled to Brittas Bay, Wicklow, in August 1976 for a weekend away with her boyfriend Damian (centre) and a group of friends
Bernie, who was 19 at the time, said: ‘Damien came down and he told us they had a row, and Elizabeth said she was going home. He said they searched for her and they can not find her.’
Kathleen, who was 14 at the time, remembered her mother instinctively knowing that Elizabeth was dead.
She said: ‘Immediately she said ”well why would she not be able to make her way home from Wicklow, she had been all around, she knows her stuff, there is nothing to stop her from getting from A to B.’ My mam said ”Elizabeth is dead, otherwise she would be here”, she just knew.’
The family immediately reported her missing to police and Damien went back to Wicklow to see if she had showed up at the caravan park they were staying in.
However by the Monday there was still no sign of the 23-year-old and the family knew something was wrong.
One week after her disappearance police led an extensive search around Brittas Bay and Elizabeth’s friends found her bra and shoes in the wooded area.
Elizabeth’s brother Thomas said: ‘I remember looking at the pair of shoes, and this is the worst part for me to talk about… when she was being dragged the dirt was on the back of her heels.’
The family also found Elizabeth’s watch and scarf and later police found a pair of men’s black boots in a laneway leading into the woods and a piece of cardboard with the name Geoffrey Murphy written on it.
Geoffrey Murphy was the name Evans was using as his false name in Ireland. Police managed to piece together the clues and soon they were looking for Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw.
Elizabeth Plunkett pictured with her sisters Bernie and Kathleen and her little niece Tara
One month after she was abducted, Elizabeth’s body washed ashore on Duncormick Beach. Due to the level of decomposition, the post-mortem examination in 1976 did not record an official cause of death
One month after she was abducted, Elizabeth’s body washed ashore on Duncormick Beach. Due to the level of decomposition, the post-mortem examination in 1976 did not record an official cause of death.
However it said it was probable she was dead before entering the water because there was no water in her lungs.
The salt water had also washed any forensic evidence that could link Shaw and Evans to her murder.
While the coroner at the time could not say her death was a result of strangulation, he also could not rule that out.
Once the post-mortem examination was over Elizabeth’s body was released back to the family.
Speaking on the podcast, her brother Thomas said: ‘It was the first time I ever saw my father cry, we didn’t know it then but our family would never be the same again.’
As suspicions grew around the two Englishmen roaming freely around Ireland, Gardaí issued a nationwide alert for their capture, but no one knew these men were already hatching another chilling plan, to abduct, rape, and murder another woman.
Another young woman in Fethard, Co Tipperary, reported being chased by two men, who she later identified as Shaw and Evans, after watching a television report of their arrest.
Speaking on the podcast, the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, recalled: ‘I was walking home down rural country roads, roads that I had walked all my life, it was a lovely evening around 9pm.
On the evening of September 22, Mary Duffy finished her shift at the Coffee Shop on Ellison Street, County Mayo, when she was abducted by Shaw and Evans
‘I hadn’t walked too far up the the road when a car passed me by and then stopped, as I walked closer to it two men got out and started running at me, I knew immediately I was in trouble.
‘I was a fit 18-year-old woman so I ran for my life, I had no idea who these men were but I knew I had to get away. I was terrified in that moment.
‘I ran back to my friend’s house and jumped a large garden wall to get in off the road, I could still hear their footsteps running behind me. I ran in the front door of my friend’s house and locked it behind me, I got an awful fright at the time.
‘My friend’s brother dropped me home, I told my parents what happened and my father reported it to the local Guardì.’
A further eight women came forward to allege they were potentially targeted by serial two men in 1976, but they managed to get away.
Geoffrey Evans and John Shaw, from the Greater Manchester area, who were both married with children of their own, had fled England from rape charges and had spent a year in prison in Ireland for various robberies.
They were on bail from a Dublin court and were due to be extradited back to the UK to face multiple charges, including the rape of three women, one of a 16-year-old girl.
However, on September 10, the two men were meant to be appearing in the Bridewell in Dublin, explaining why they should not be extradited back to England, but they never showed.
They had stolen a car and were ready to seek out their next victim, 23-year-old Mary Duffy.
On the evening of September 22, Mary finished her shift at the Coffee Shop on Ellison Street, County Mayo.
John Shaw with police officers during his first trial
She did not have any money on her, so borrowed some coins from a colleague to call her brother Michael to ask him to collect her but he was fixing a customers car at a local garage where he worked.
Shaw and Evans had been watching Mary make the phone call, then leave and start walking alone.
Once more, Shaw exited the car, and Evans parked it further up the street, Shaw followed her silently, and then, when she came alongside the parked car, he dragged her in. Some locals heard screams but couldn’t see anything.
Shaw said in his statement to police: ‘Somewhere along the road, I started to drive and Geoff got into the back of the car with her. She didn’t scream but said, “Don’t do me any harm”.’
They held Mary captive for over 24 hours in the woods, they gave her valium, tried to feed her a cheese sandwich but she refused and eventually they strangled her to death.
A few days later the men were caught in Galway on September 26, 1976, while planning a third abduction.
A team of 35 divers, from Garda, Naval and Army units, including civilian volunteers, spent almost two weeks searching Lough Inagh for Mary’s body.
Mary’s body was eventually located in a crevice by volunteer diver and she was buried in Elmhall Cemetery in her home village of Belcarra, Co Mayo, on October 13.
During police interviews Evan’s confessed to abducting, raping and killing Elizabeth and Mary, he even told police where to find Mary’s body.
In a police interview about Elizabeth’s death, Shaw said: ‘We passed her out and Geoffrey stopped, I got out and he turned the car and went back and picked up the girl.’
Evans added: ‘She said ”are you going to Dublin, I said I’m not going to Dublin but I can still give you a lift, she got into the front passenger seat.’
Shaw said: ‘He then picked me up, I was in the back and the girl was in the front seat. She told us she had a row with her boyfriend.
Evans added: ‘We were talking about normal things for a while and then we started messing with the girl. She started to scream in the car and we shoved tissue’s in her mouth.’
The men revealed they then drove to the nearby wooded area and dragged Elizabeth out of the car.
However, during the Garda investigation, Shaw and Evans turned on one another-each blaming the other for the murders.
They both received life sentences and became known as the State’s first serial killers. Shaw is Ireland’s longest-serving prisoner.
Evans died age 68 from sepsis in St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park on May 20, 2012, where he had been in a coma for several years following a stroke after heart bypass surgery in December 2008.
No family claimed his body and he was buried by the state in an unmarked grave in Ireland.
However, for nearly half a century, the Plunkett family believed justice had been served, only to be blindsided in 2023, when they were told Elizabeth was never legally recognised as a murder victim.
This shocking revelation emerged during parole discussions for Shaw, who remains incarcerated.
Originally both men were charged with murder, rape and false imprisonment of Elizabeth and Mary.
However, when Shaw began a parole application nearly two years ago, it was revealed he had never been convicted for Elizabeth’s murder.
It was also revealed to the Plunkett family that the State never held an inquest into the death of Elizabeth and they never issued a death certificate in her name.
While Shaw was never convicted of crimes against Elizabeth, Evans was convicted of her rape and false imprisonment, but not murder, something the family had been unaware of until 2023.
They learned the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew charges related to Elizabeth’s death by entering a nolle prosequi, which is a formal notice of abandonment.
Meaning the pair were only convicted for Mary Duffy’s murder back in 1978, receiving mandatory life sentences.
Despite both men confessing to her abduction and murder, unbelievably no one has ever been found guilty of Elizabeth’s murder.
Speaking to the podcast, Elizabeth’s brother Thomas said: ‘We never got to know did my dad understand that for some legal reason Shaw was never convicted of Elizabeth’s murder.
‘I think my father was told that these men would never ever see freedom again.’
Bernie added: ‘My father was fobbed off, it was easy to fob off a man who was absolutely devastated, distraught and completely out of his depth.’
Kathleen said: ‘I didn’t understand the courts at 18-years of age, other then if someone goes to jail it means they done wrong and they went to jail.’
Their father died of a heart attack while he was driving and a year later their mother also died, seven years after Elizabeth’s murder.
In January this year, an inquest returned a long-overdue verdict of unlawful killing, with coroner Dr. Sean Nixon confirming asphyxia from strangulation as the cause of death.
Solicitor James MacGuill read a statement on behalf of the Plunkett family in January 2025 outside the court.
He said: ‘Elizabeth was hunted down and savagely killed by two men who, less than a month later, went on to murder another woman, Mary Duffy.
‘Despite these vile criminals confessing to murdering both Elizabeth and Mary, they were only ever convicted of Mary’s murder.
‘With this new development, we’re calling on Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to reopen the case into Elizabeth’s death and submit a new file to the DPP.
‘Although one culprit died, the other remains in an Irish prison for murdering Mary Duffy.
‘But he also confessed and was charged with falsely imprisoning, raping and murdering our sister Elizabeth – yet the DPP decided against prosecuting him for these crimes by entering a nolle prosequi. We now want the DPP to explain that decision.
‘Our family, and in particular, our parents Tommy and Kathleen, were destroyed by Elizabeth’s murder. They never recovered from her death.
‘We relied on the authorities to do their job at that time – but they failed us – and they failed our cherished sister.’
According to information given to the Plunkett family by the Victim Liaison Office of the Irish Prison Service, Shaw’s most recent parole application has been refused.
He will be eligible to apply for parole again in February of next year.
The family of Elizabeth are hoping the Garda Commissioner decides to reopen the case and resubmit charges against Shaw.
