Thirty years ago, Wicklow publican Tom Nevin was shot dead as he counted the takings following a busy day at Jack White’s Inn. Initially, the incident appeared to be a robbery gone wrong, but grieving wife Catherine Nevin would eventually emerge as the prime suspect and later come to be known as ‘The Black Widow’.

On the first of a two-part special, we look back at how one of Ireland’s most famous criminals came into the spotlight. 

Host: Fionnán Sheahan 
Guest: Mary Wilson

The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Black Widow Part 1: The murder of Tom Nevin and one of Ireland’s most notorious criminal cases

On a spring morning in June 2001 an eight-year-old girl gathers moss for her grandmother’s hanging baskets in a forest near Ballinamore in Co Leitrim. The child lets out a scream, she had discovered a body.  The remains belonged to Enniskillen businessman, Gerry McGinley and it was clear that he been murdered.  
He had been killed by his own wife Julie and her lover, in fact they were already in custody over it.  But it wasn’t a simple tale of adultery. It involved hotel sex with strangers, lies, blackmail and videotape – and included many prominent people in Fermanagh.  

Andrew Madden researched this sordid story for the Belfast Telegraph. 

Sex, lies and video tape: Julie McGinley and the murder of husband Gerry McGinley in Fermanagh  

30 years on from the violent killing of publican Tom Nevin, part two of this special podcast looks at how Nevin's wife, Catherine Nevin, emerged as the prime suspect; the murder trial and media blitz that followed; and why Ireland’s ‘Black Widow’ still fascinates us to this day.  

Host: Fionnán Sheahan  
Guest: Mary Wilson  

Black Widow Part 2: The trial of Catherine Nevin and the media sensation that followed

Roger Casement was hanged in August 1916 for treason against the Crown. Formerly Sir Roger, his assistance to Germany during the First World Ward was undeniable and from a British point of view he was a traitor.  

From from an Irish nationalist point of view, he was a rebel and a hero who now took his place in history among the martyrs of republicanism and the leader of the 1916 Rising.  
 
No knight of the realm had faced treason charges for centuries, let alone be executed. His story was without precedent.  

A Protestant Anglo-Irish man who had been a loyal servant of the British empire, he had exposed horrific abuses of indigenous people in Africa and South America. But he then came to believe Ireland urgently needed to free itself of Britain. 
 
Who was this complex individual and how did he end up being killed by the state he had served?   
 
Casement is a subject of a new book – A Rebel And A Traitor – by Rory Carroll, the Guardian's Ireland correspondent. 
 
He joined Sam McBride on the BelTel.  

Black Widow Part 1: The murder of Tom Nevin and one of Ireland’s most notorious criminal cases

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