Monster Graham Dwyer insists he is innocent of the murder of Elaine O’Hara.
Days after one of the highest courts in the country threw out his appeal against his 2015 conviction for the murder of Elaine O’Hara, sources said Dwyer has always maintained he had nothing to do with her death.
And, despite a mass of evidence, Dwyer even claims he was not in a relationship with the 36-year-old –whom he groomed for murder for more than a year.
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A source said: “He says he had nothing to do with Elaine’s death.
“He is even denying that he was having an affair with her behind his wife’s back.
“He says he was not having an affair with her, instead he was trying to help her and find a partner for her. He is deluded.”
Dwyer, 50, is expected to spend up to another 20 years in prison after the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal rejected his appeal against his murder conviction on Friday.
He is one of the most notorious killers in the Irish legal system and sources tell us he will be around 70 before he gets out from jail on licence.
He had been hoping the court would uphold his fight against conviction – but the court dismissed every argument he put forward, including a claim by Dwyer’s lawyers the use of call data records at his trial should lead to a retrial.
Detectives from Blackrock Garda Station in South Dublin who investigated the August 22, 2012 murder of Ms O’Hara used data from his work phone to link Dwyer to key evidence in the case.
That data was compared to evidence retrieved from two burner phones dumped in Vartry Reservoir in Co Wicklow after the murder and found a year later in September 2013.
The State successfully argued in the 2015 trial that Dwyer and Ms O’Hara used the phones to text each other in the run-up to the murder.
The sicko challenged the use of such data after the EU and Irish courts ruled that the blanket retaining of such data for all phone users –including Dwyer – went against European law. But the court rejected that argument on Friday.
Mr Justice George Birmingham, Court of Appeal President, said: “In this case we are quite satisfied that the admission of the very limited call data evidence that was admitted could not conceivably be regarded as giving rise to a miscarriage of justice.”
He said even if the evidence should not have been admitted at his trial, it was of little significance given the prosecution was able to establish through other evidence that the phones, which contained evidence of his plan to murder Ms O’Hara, belonged to Dwyer.
That phone data included messages from Dwyer to Ms O’Hara on several phones in which he spoke of his desire to rape and murder.
In one text, he told Elaine: “I’m a sadist. I enjoy others’ pain. You should help me inflict pain on you and help me with my fantasies.”
Another text sent by Dwyer to Elaine in June 2011 read: “I want to stick my knife in flesh while aroused... blood turns me on and I’d like to stab a girl to death.”
And there were dozens of sick messages. “If you ever want to die, promise me I can do it,” he wrote in April 2011.
“My urge to rape, stab and kill is huge. You have to help me control or satisfy it,” he told her on another occasion.
“Im having lots of thoughts about killing u”, he told her in one text shortly in July 2011 – just over a year before he murdered her. He added: “I want to kill someone and also I want to hurt u as a punishment.”
Dwyer fulfilled his fantasy when he lured Elaine to Shanganagh Cemetery in south Co Dublin and then brought her to Killakee Wood in the Dublin Mountains There, he stabbed her to death before watching her die, gardai believe.
As well as denying any involvement, Dwyer also:
- Claims he never fantasised about killing anyone
- Says he was helping Elaine find a partner
- Claims he did not buy the phones the jury accepted he texted Elaine on for more than a year, and
- Is adamant he is not a pervert and is not a sadist.
Despite his denials, a jury found him guilty of murder and the Court
of Appeal has now upheld that conviction.
But the ruling is likely only to be the latest chapter in the Dywer saga.
Legal sources said it was likely Dwyer, a dad-of-three and architect, will try another legal route.
They expect him to try to take his case to the Supreme Court in one last desperate roll of the dice.
A source said: “He will not give up. He believes he is innocent and will try every move he can to get out.”
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