How a new word was created.
Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre and Unprecedented In 1982 Ireland was gripped by the unfolding tale of a desperate killer who had callously b...
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Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre and Unprecedented In 1982 Ireland was gripped by the unfolding tale of a desperate killer who had callously b...
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Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre and Unprecedented
In 1982 Ireland was gripped by the unfolding tale of a desperate killer who had callously bludgeoned Nurse Bridie Gargan, 29, to death as she sunbathed in the Phoenix Park on July 22.
The killer, making his escape with the mortally-wounded woman in the back of her car, received a son et lumiere escort from an ambulance whose crew thought he was a doctor bringing her to hospital.
Three days later, a Co. Offaly farmer, Donal Dunne, 27, was murdered and his shotgun and car stolen.
It would later emerge that the two killings were linked, the murderer simply needed to steal a car to get to Co. Offaly.
He was Malcolm MacArthur, a well-educated man-about-town who had squandered over £100,000 of inherited money. He had no intention of getting a job and came up with a simple solution - he was going to rob what he needed.
The two murders, however, put him at the top of the Gardaí’s wanted list and the trail led towards Dun Laoghaire.
MacArthur, was short of money and desperately needed somewhere to hide. After a botched attempt to hold-up a former American diplomat in Killiney, during which his victim escaped and raised the alarm, MacArthur dropped in on a friend who lived at Pilot View and accepted the offer of a place to stay.
That friend was Patrick Connolly, the Irish Attorney General, who was long-time friend of MacArthur’s girlfriend.
The following Sunday he invited MacArthur to join him in the VIP box at the All-Ireland hurling final. The two were driven to Croke Park in a government car which was driven by a Garda.
MacArthur, though, largely stayed indoors and ordered his needs through taxi drivers - but the net had begun to close.
Gardaí arrested MacArthur at Pilot View on August 13, recovering at the same time the shotgun which had killed, and been stolen from, Donal Dunne.
The Attorney General, with the agreement of the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, went on a long-planned to the U.S.A. Though completely innocent of any involvement in, or knowledge of, MacArthur’s crimes, he truncated his trip, returned home, and resigned.
Charles Haughey, commenting on what had happened, described the circumstances as “Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.” - the word “GUBU” is still in fairly common use.
MacArthur pleaded guilty to the murder of Bridie Gargan. As a result no evidence was heard. He was never charged with the murder of Donal Dunne. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In June 2003 it was announced that he is to be given parole.