LARRY MURPHY'S CRIMES IN IRELAND AND LONDON: A DARK TALE OF VIOLENCE AND MYSTERY

In June 2015, the notorious criminal Larry Murphy found himself at the center of a disturbing incident in London, where he reportedly sustained a broken leg during a pub brawl. The altercation took place in a pub located in a northeast suburb of London, near Murphy's new residence. Witnesses say that Murphy, aged 50 at the time, was involved in a fight with a group of men in the vicinity of his local drinking establishment. The incident was characterized by drunken aggression, but authorities clarified that it was entirely separate from Murphy's long history of heinous crimes in Ireland.

According to sources close to the case, Murphy injured himself further shortly after the fight when he was involved in a workplace accident. This sequence of events led to him hobbling around with a cast on his leg, which he reportedly told police he was wearing after the pub incident. It was emphasized that Murphy's involvement in the pub brawl was a trivial altercation, not connected to his past criminal activities. Local residents and regular patrons of the pub confirmed that Murphy was a familiar face at the establishment, often seen drinking there.

Despite his criminal past, Murphy was reportedly still in a relationship with a woman he was seen with the previous year. This woman was fully aware of Murphy's conviction history, which includes serving ten years of a fifteen-year sentence for the rape and attempted murder of a woman in 2000. Murphy's dark history extends beyond this conviction, as he is also a suspect in the disappearance of several women, including Annie McCarrick, Jo Jo Dullard, and Deirdre Jacob. The cold case investigation into Deirdre Jacob's disappearance has recently been reopened, with authorities exploring links to Murphy.

During his time in prison, Murphy refused to cooperate with detectives investigating these cases. When asked directly if he was involved in Deirdre Jacob's murder, he simply responded that he would get back to the police. After his release, retired Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey visited Arbour Hill prison and was told by a fellow inmate that Murphy had boasted about killing Deirdre Jacob with a hammer. The inmate claimed Murphy recounted following Deirdre as she walked to her parents' home, then beckoned her over to his car, knocked her unconscious, and dragged her onto the front seat.

Further investigations have focused on Murphy's whereabouts around the time of Deirdre Jacob's disappearance in 1998. Evidence such as a business card found at her grandmother's sweet shop after her death has added weight to these suspicions. Her father, Michael, issued a renewed appeal for information two months prior, expressing frustration over the lack of progress. Her mother, Bernadette, lamented the ongoing uncertainty, stating, “We’re as wise today as we were the day Deirdre went missing. We have absolutely nothing to go on and it’s very hard to continue.”

Murphy's violent past is marked by a particularly brutal attack in 2000, which shocked Ireland and beyond. On a cold February night, Murphy abducted, raped, and nearly murdered a young woman in Carlow town. The 26-year-old victim, a businesswoman, was attacked around 8:15 pm after she opened her car door in a secluded parking lot. Murphy demanded her bag containing IR£700, the day's takings, and struck her, fracturing her nose. Dazed, she fell into her car, and Murphy ordered her to move to the passenger seat, tying her hands with her bra.

He then drove her across a narrow road, forced her out of her car, and led her to his own vehicle, placing her in the trunk. Murphy, an experienced hunter, used his knowledge of the Wicklow, Kildare, and Carlow areas to his advantage. He drove her eight miles to an isolated spot called Beaconstown, where he raped her before pretending to take her home. Instead, he took her into the Wicklow mountains, raping her three more times on a forest track. During this ordeal, he tied her hands again and attempted to suffocate her with a plastic bag, but she managed to escape, climbing out of the trunk and running to safety.

Her rescuers, hunters Ken Jones and Trevor Moody, found her and took her to a Garda station, where she identified Murphy from a previous incident at a local pub. Meanwhile, Murphy returned home, went to bed without washing, and made love to his heavily pregnant wife, unaware that his night of terror was about to end his freedom for over a decade.

Murphy's criminal activities extend beyond this attack. He is widely believed to be linked to the disappearance of six young women between 1993 and 1998—cases that continue to haunt Ireland. A garda cold-case operation, known as Operation Trace, reviewed the disappearances of Fiona Sinnott, Deirdre Jacob, Jo Jo Dullard, Ciara Breen, Annie McCarrick, and Fiona Pender. Murphy was questioned in prison regarding at least three of these cases but refused to cooperate. Despite this, authorities believe he was responsible for some of the murders, especially since the disappearances ceased after his arrest in 2000. Many senior officers remain convinced that Murphy played a role in at least some of these tragic cases, although concrete evidence remains elusive.