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RTÉ Crimecall

Irene White investigation turns to the person who paid Anthony Lambe to kill her

One avenue of investigation now being pursued by gardaí is that at least two other people were involved.

GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING THE murder of Irene White will now turn their attention to the people who allegedly ordered the mother-of-three’s killing nearly 13 years ago, following a man’s conviction yesterday for her murder.

Irene White was murdered at her Dundalk home – known as Ice House – on 6 April 2005.

She was found with multiple stab wounds by her elderly mother.

Gardaí had initially believed that Irene was killed by someone she knew.

They learned in recent years that Anthony Lambe (34), who had no connection to her, was the man who carried out the crime.

Lambe, who is from Annadrumman, Castleblayney, Monaghan, told gardaí he had been paid by a third party to carry out the killing.

Lambe was 22-years-old at the time. He told gardaí that after he killed Irene White he said a prayer over her body before jumping over the back wall of the house and running.

A number of appeals made by gardaí and White’s family resulted in officers receiving a phone call from Australia. Gardaí travelled to visit the person who gave information regarding the murder.

When gardaí contacted Lambe in January of last year after the tip-off led officers to his front door, he eventually admitted to killing her.

He recounted how he had telephoned the person who had asked him to do it and received a “relatively small sum of money”. He was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday.

One avenue of investigation now being pursued by gardaí is that at least two other people were involved in orchestrating Irene White’s murder.

Detective Inspector Pat Marry said in court yesterday that he believed Lambe was under pressure at the time of the murder and added: “That is as much as I can say at this stage.”

In a statement outside the courthouse yesterday, White’s sister Anne Declassian said:

“Why did he go to that house? Why did he kill my sister? What was his motive? He gave my sister a horrible death. He stabbed her over 30 times. “Nothing this man can do now will ever bring my sister back. This man is only pleading guilty now because he was caught.”

Speaking outside court Irene’s husband Alan White said he was “in shock” when he heard that someone had been hired to kill his wife. Speaking of the life sentence handed down to Lambe, he added: “We got the result we needed.”

- With reporting by Eoin Reynolds

Read: Man guilty of ‘frenzied’ murder of Irene White told gardaí he got ‘small sum of money’ for her killing >

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    Mute Thomas Hannigan
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    Jul 25th 2013, 7:20 AM

    Councillors and ex TDs walk from corruption charges,and not one column reporting this..The silence is deafening,, ,,,,,,

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 25th 2013, 8:10 AM

    True Thomas.

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    Mute the lost lenore
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    Jul 25th 2013, 9:25 AM

    Incroyable! The Journal runs an opinion piece that’s not about sexism. Give yourselves a pat on the back, that must have been difficult.

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    Mute Little Jim
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    Jul 25th 2013, 11:28 AM

    Typical male attitude.!

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    Mute the lost lenore
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    Jul 25th 2013, 11:31 AM

    I demand a quota system to redress the gender imbalance of this thread.

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    Mute Emily Elephant
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    Jul 25th 2013, 7:55 AM

    It’s nuts to think that you can entrust decisions about people’s liberty to 12 unqualified people, and at the same time not trust those 12 unqualified people to look at the evidence presented in court rather than media hysteria.

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    Mute Enola Straight
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    Jul 25th 2013, 8:08 AM

    Unqualified? Do elaborate.

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    Mute ieoinu
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    Jul 25th 2013, 7:19 PM

    I disagree, the jury system is not without its faults but it is the fairest system there is. The principle of interpretation of our laws is based in that of the reasonable man and that when tried you are judged by your peers. If you have qualified people on a jury (by qualified people trained to do the task, familiar with laws, procedures etc basically quasi judges) you remove this element of the reasonable or normal person. The example I would give would be Padraig Nally, he did everything needed that a professional jury would have been quite right to convict him of at least manslaughter. However a jury of his peers (seeing things they their own eyes and drawing from their own experiences) acquitted him albeit on a retrial.

    Now a professional jury drawing a wage and living in middle Ireland may not be able to draw on such experience or perspective and arrive at the same conclusion. My experiences come from the prosecution end of things and seeing cases fall because of a jury’s verdict is aggravating and frustrating but it has to be respected, it is what protects all of us from all of us.

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    Mute George Barwood
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    Jul 26th 2013, 1:19 AM

    I’m in some kind of battle with the UK Press Complaints Commission, re Daily Mail comment policy on a recent high profile US case.

    http://jodi-arias.wikispaces.com/Daily+Mail+complaint

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Jul 25th 2013, 8:58 AM

    Fergal,
    Proposed legislation for “Family Law” and “whistleblower protection” will create new offences where information disclosed relating to decisions made in unaccountable courts.
    Judicial accountability is key for those who would decide on what is in the public interest.

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    Mute itiswhatitisMF
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    Jul 25th 2013, 8:37 AM

    Bankers and the elite and politicians have one law the rest have another. 2 tier system.

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