Marie and Noel Murray were an anarchist married couple who were among the last people to be sentenced to death in the Republic of Ireland.
[3] They were involved in campaigns for improving prisoners’ rights, promoting the Irish language and the Housing Action Committee.
[3] An off-duty Garda named Michael Reynolds (30, from County Galway), happened to be driving by at the time and gave chase.
[3] The assailants fled their vehicles at Saint Anne's Park and Garda Reynolds continued the pursuit on foot.
[4] Noel and Marie Murray, along with Ronan Stenson, were eventually charged with the murder of Reynolds.
Among those who pleaded with the Irish government to commute the sentences were British MPs Neil Kinnock[5] and David Steel,[5] US congresswoman Bella Abzug,[5] French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre[7] and Pope Paul VI.
The trial had been conducted without a jury and both Noel and Marie claimed that the statements they gave confessing to the murder had been obtained by torture.
[5] Prior to their release, they had been involved in an unsuccessful ten-year legal action to receive conjugal visits so that they could start a family.
[5] In 1991 the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutional right to beget children within marriage was suspended while a spouse was lawfully imprisoned.