[3] The British police had previously investigated the pair in connection with three rapes committed in England in 1974, prompting the men to leave the United Kingdom and travel to the Republic of Ireland.
In August 1976, in Co Wicklow, they abducted and repeatedly raped and then murdered 23 year-old Elizabeth Plunkett from Ringsend in Dublin, following a night out in Brittas Bay.
[2] In September of that year, in Castlebar, they abducted 23-year-old Mary Duffy [4] as she walked home from a late work shift as a cook.
The family of Elizabeth Plunkett only discovered this fact in 2023, when contacted by the Irish Parole Board about temporary day release for John Shaw.
In January 2025 a jury at Gorey District Court returned a verdict of unlawful killing in the case of Elizabeth Plunkett, with coroner Dr Sean Nixon recording a cause of death as asphyxia due to strangulation.