{"id":344949,"date":"2026-03-13T22:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/344949\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:46:11","slug":"family-of-woman-murdered-by-husband-in-dublin-distressed-after-killer-granted-day-release-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/344949\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of woman murdered by husband in Dublin \u2018distressed\u2019 after killer granted day release \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a woman murdered by her husband in Dublin 20 years ago have said they are distressed he has been granted day release from prison.<\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n McLaughlin (38) was murdered by her husband, Brian Kearney, at their family home in Goatstown, south Dublin on February 28th, 2006. <\/p>\n

Two years later, Kearney was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of her murder at the Central Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

During the trial<\/a>, the jury was told Kearney used the flex of a vacuum cleaner as a ligature before trying to hoist his wife over a door in her bedroom. <\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n was in the process of filing for a divorce at the time. The couple\u2019s son Dan, who was just three years old, was in the house at the time. <\/p>\n

Kearney will be released from Dublin\u2019s Wheatfield Prison, under supervision, for a day next week. <\/p>\n

Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s family was made aware of the decision in emails from the Irish Prison Service\u2019s (IPS) victim liaison office this week.<\/p>\n

Brighid McLaughlin, Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s eldest sister, said the emails were \u201cabrupt\u201d and came as a shock. <\/p>\n

\"BrighidBrighid McLaughlin said the use of the word ‘compassionate’ in relation to Brian Kearney’s day release was ‘very distressing’ for her family. Photograph: Barry Cronin <\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister [Niamh] had a complete panic attack, she had to leave work,\u201d Brighid said.<\/p>\n

One of the emails, seen by The Irish Times, said Kearney would be taken to \u201ca neutral venue in Dublin\u201d towards the end of next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be escorted at all times by two prisoner officers and returned to custody afterwards,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n

The average life term served in prison<\/a> is about 19 years.<\/p>\n

Kearney is being released under section 39 of the Prisons Act 2007 which allows for temporary release on \u201ccompassionate grounds\u201d or \u201cfor the purpose of assessing suitability for early release, facilitating reintegration into society\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brighid said the use of the word \u201ccompassionate\u201d was \u201cvery distressing\u201d for her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiobh\u00e1n\u2019s murder was so bad. It was savage, it was torturous. It was an excruciating exit from the world. And that just violates the very basic tenants of social appropriateness and general beliefs in the sanctity of human life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctity of human life is everything; when that\u2019s gone, everything\u2019s gone \u2013 to us, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrianBrian Kearney leaving the Court of Criminal Appeal in July 2009. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh <\/p>\n

A follow-up email from the IPS apologised \u201cfor any distress caused\u201d by the initial email and acknowledged \u201chow difficult it is for you and your family to learn that the prisoner is being granted any type of concession\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brighid said her family believed in rehabilitation, but Kearney has never acknowledged his crime or shown any remorse. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot rehabilitate someone who doesn\u2019t admit to their crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

News of Kearney\u2019s day release was \u201cvery upsetting\u201d for their parents, Owen and Deirdre McLaughlin, who are aged 92 and 85 respectively, she said. <\/p>\n

The couple found her body after she was killed. Siobh\u00e1n was the fifth of eight children.<\/p>\n

Brighid said Dan, Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s son, was doing \u201camazing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kearney is set to have a parole hearing in April and the family said they feared that granting him day release was the first step to him being freed permanently.<\/p>\n

\"RelativesRelatives of Siobh\u00e1n Kearney, including her mother Deirdre McLoughlin (centre), leaving the Central Criminal Court during Brian Kearney’s murder trial. Photograph: Eric Luke <\/p>\n

Another of Siobh\u00e1n\u2019s sisters, Annie, said, in the two decades since Siobh\u00e1n was killed, there has been \u201cno remorse, no acknowledgment of the crime\u201d.<\/p>\n

The family has been through the parole hearing process before and she said they are \u201cretraumatised\u201d each time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we as family members constantly recalled to plead the case to stop letting him out, to not let him out?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have to be retraumatised every single time and begging for them to keep him in,\u201d Annie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t be allowed out, simple as, the 18 years isn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brighid said watching their parents write letters outlining their trauma and explaining why Kearney should not be released was \u201cjust so upsetting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Annie said she knew it was often not easy to leave a controlling relationship but advised anyone in this situation to \u201ctry and get out\u201d.<\/p>\n

She noted that many women, like Siobh\u00e1n, have been killed after telling their partner they were leaving. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important that people who are in this situation prepare themselves and have their exit and organise it without letting that person know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As the family prepares for the upcoming parole hearing, Annie said she wanted Siobh\u00e1n to be remembered as \u201cthe funniest person you will ever meet, razor sharp wit\u201d with \u201cboundless generosity\u201d. <\/p>\n

A spokesman said the IPS \u201cdoes not comment on individual prisoner cases\u201d. The Irish Times has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a woman murdered by her husband in Dublin 20 years ago have said they are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9691,615,157542,61,60,11183,43],"class_list":["post-344949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-justice","tag-dublin","tag-goatstown","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-prison-service","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}