23-04-2025
Inside the web of lies & sex fantasies in the murder trial that shocked Ireland
It was the murder trial that gripped the nation - as the sordid sex fantasies of Graham Dwyer were laid bare across the front pages for six weeks.
He was the rich architect from Foxrock, a seemingly normal young father who went about his nine to five - but who hid a double life of affairs, BDSM and fantasised of knife play and murder. His seedy, disgusting text messages to innocent childcare worker Elaine O'Hara, 36 - messages he thought no one would ever see - made this a trial like no other.
Ten years ago last month, Dwyer was convicted and jailed for life for a murder that he once believed he had easily gotten away with. The prosecution successfully argued that Dwyer killed Elaine O'Hara in the Dublin mountains in August 2012 for his own sexual gratification - after a secret affair lasting more than a year.
The investigation into Dwyer began after Elaine's badly decomposed remains, which were ultimately identified by dental records, were found by a dog walker on wooded land near Killakee in September 2013. Investigators had initially believed she may have died by her own hand in a personal tragedy - but after a chance discovery just three days' prior, officers found handcuffs, restraints and other unusual items in the Vartry Reservoir near Roundwood in Co Wicklow.
Subsequent searches uncovered two Nokia mobile phones - phones that would ultimately contain hundreds of revealing messages between a mysterious 083 number and Elaine that sealed his fate. The messages revealed that Elaine was in contact with someone who had fantasies and desires of stabbing during sex. A text between her and the 083 number on May 24, 2011 talked about stabbing a sheep and wanting 'to do a woman next'.
Investigators then went about trying to identify the anonymous texter who was messaging Elaine - with his obsession with model aircraft ultimately being the key. A text from the 083 number on June 13, 2011 referenced coming fifth in a flying competition - a seemingly innocent message that finally pointed detectives in the direction of Dwyer.
Gardaí uncovered that a man named Graham Dwyer had come fifth in the East Coast Scale Championships. Detective Sergeant Peter Woods, a central figure in the investigation, then entered Dwyer's name into the Garda Pulse system and found a man of that name, with an address in Foxrock, had once lodged a complaint about a stolen bike from his office at A&D Wejchert Architects on Baggot St.
Investigators were later able to establish from those that knew Elaine that she had been in a troubling relationship with an architect - and found reference to a 'Graham's number' in her laptop. On October 17, 2013, Detective Sergeant Peter Woods ultimately knocked on the door of Dwyer's Kerrymount Close home just after 7am - and informed the startled man that he was being arrested on suspicion of murder.
Detective Sergeant Woods was prepared for all eventualities but chose the soft approach, giving Dwyer time to get dressed and be brought to the Garda Station, where the brazen murderer would go on to try and fool officers who had spent weeks preparing for the very important interviews. Acting unfazed and innocent, Dwyer tried to babble his way through the interviews before the evidence of his relationship with Elaine, which he initially denied, was laid out in front of him over five interviews.
Dwyer ultimately conceded to detectives that he was in a relationship and disclosed his interest in BDSM but insisted he would not cut anybody. This flew in the face of later evidence of video footage secured by detectives which showed Dwyer cutting Elaine during sex.
Detectives had established that Dwyer and Elaine initially had a BDSM, or bondage, relationship previously in 2006 - but the school assistant broke it off in 2008 because she was afraid of him and did not want the architect to cut her any more. However, Dwyer - who started fantasising about stabbing women when he was a teenager - rekindled the relationship in 2011 and began to formulate a plan to kill her.
He then spent months trying to persuade Elaine - who had mental health problems and was often suicidal - that he could end her problems by killing her. He sent her hundreds of texts in which he spoke of his desire to cut, rape and kill women - including her. And then, when she told him she didn't want to die, he fooled her into meeting him close to her mother Eileen's grave at Shanganagh, south Dublin at 6pm on August 22, 2012 - hours after she left a mental hospital.
He then got her to leave her car there and walked towards the nearby shore - so it would appear to Gardaí investigating her disappearance that she had taken her own life. He then drove her to Killakee Wood, where it is believed he stabbed her as he raped her, before watching her die.
A massive Garda probe saw specialist officers retrieve hundreds of texts from the two secret phones Dwyer and Elaine had used to contact each other - in which he had spoken of his plan to kill her. 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 sexually aroused... blood turns me on and I'd like to stab a girl to death.'
But it was not just texts - he also wrote two pieces of fiction that shocked the nation. The country was horrified when details of a fantasy he wrote - called Jenny's First Rape - were read to the jury. In that fantasy, he told how he kidnaps a woman in a bookshop in Newcastle - and subjects her to a horrific ordeal in his hotel room.
But that was nothing compared to his fantasy about killing a real-life woman - American Darci Day. Ms Day gave evidence in the trial - and she revealed that she had met Dwyer online when she was obsessed with thoughts of suicide. The court heard he discussed killing her - and even said he wanted to slit her throat while they were having sex.
The court also heard that he wrote a sickening fantasy - called 'Killing Darci' - in which he outlined in sick detail his desire to murder and mutilate Ms Day, 29, who lives in Maine on the east coast of the United States. In the document, he wrote: "Months had gone by and soon the day would finally arrive. From the first email I knew this one was special. I had always fantasised about killing ever since I was a teenager and I got hard every time I had a knife in my hand, wielding the power knowing that I could decide who lived and died, Just like my hero. God.
"Bondage, rape, slashing and stabbing soon became my hobby and acquiring two fine subs over the years and having role play with others."
The jury convicted then 42-year-old Dwyer unanimously of Elaine's murder on March 27, 2015 - after seven hours and 33 minutes of deliberating. In his Garda interview, Dwyer was told by the experienced investigator - Detective Sergeant Woods - that he thought he had 'done the perfect crime'.
In the end, it was Dwyer's own words that secured his prosecution - as he caught himself in a web of lies.
If you have been affected by the contents of this article, support is available from the organisations below:
Women's Aid: 1800 341 900. helpline@
Samaritans: 116 123. jo@
