Murderer of Kildare woman died from lung disease, inquest hears

THE convicted murderer of a young Kildare woman, who evaded justice for 20 years, died last year from severe lung disease while serving a life sentence, an inquest has heard.

John Crerar (76), a father of five from Woodside Park, Kildare, died at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital on 25 January 2025 just over 24 hours after he was transferred from a medical cell in Arbour Hill Prison following a sharp deterioration in his health.

An inquest into his death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday heard Crerar suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and had been on 24-hour oxygen for a while.

Although no member of the deceased’s family attended the hearing, the inquest heard that his sister, Kay, one of her friends and a priest were by his bedside when he passed away.

Evidence was also heard that Mr Crerar’s daughter, Carol, formally identified her father’s body to gardaí.

Mr Crerar – a former sergeant in the Defence Forces who came originally from Co Tipperary – was found guilty of the murder of Phyliss Murphy (23) on a date unknown between 22 December 1979 and 18 January 1980 following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in October 2002.

Ms Murphy was last seen alive while waiting at a bus stop opposite the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge, Co Kildare shortly after 6.30pm on 22 December 1979 to travel home to Kildare town after shopping for Christmas presents.

Her naked body was found 28 days later in a forested area near the Wicklow Gap – about 30km away from her last known location – following an extensive search involving 3,000 volunteers across a wide area of Kildare and Wicklow.

Several items of her clothing as well as Christmas presents which she had bought were found at various locations in the Curragh, Brannockstown and Lockstown Upper in Wicklow.

A postmortem on Mr Murphy showed she had been beaten and strangled, while she also had injuries consistent with being raped.

Mr Crerar was identified as the prime suspect for the murder as a result of advances in DNA testing which resulted in blood samples provided by him in 1980 being matched two decades later with semen samples recovered from the victim’s body.

Gardaí had asked several males in the Kildare area to voluntarily provide blood samples as part of their investigation.

Detectives had identified Mr Crerar as a potential suspect at the time as one garda had noted that he appeared “shifty” and “nervous” when questioned about the murder.

However, forensic experts at the time were only able to identify a blood group from semen samples taken from Ms Murphy’s body rather than a full DNA profile which only became available in 1998.

Mr Crerar also had an alibi, that was only withdrawn during his trial, which had been provided by a fellow security guard for Provincial Security Services at the Black & Decker plant in Kildare where both former soldiers worked.

Mr Crerar was arrested and charged with the cold case murder in July 1999 and pleaded not guilty when he went on trial the following year.

During the murder trial, evidence was heard that Mr Crerar knew Ms Murphy’s family as he lived near them in Kildare town and was friendly with the deceased’s sister, Claire.

The inquest heard that a call light had been activated in Mr Crerar’s cell at 3am on 24 January 2025 when the prisoner sought medical attention.

A prison nurse, Martina Murphy, gave evidence of providing care to Mr Crerar for several hours before a decision was made to call an ambulance to bring him to hospital because of his deteriorating condition.

Ms Murphy outlined how the prisoner had become more unsettled and his breathing more laboured.

She told the coroner Myra Cullinane that a problem with the prison’s computer system as a result of Storm Éowyn earlier that week did not delay the prisoner’s transfer to hospital.

The inquest heard that a “do not resuscitate” order had been in place for Mr Crerar since April 2024 which resulted in doctors at the Mater deciding not to intubate him after assessing he had advanced respiratory failure.

The results of a postmortem showed he died from acute bronchial pneumonia against a background of COPD and pulmonary emphysema.

A jury of five women and one man recorded a verdict of death due to natural causes.