26-05-2025
Stolen Sister - the new true crime podcast from Doc On One
I have a friend who often remarks that you instantly know if someone has a sister.
She says there is a marked difference between those with and without someone who flips between screaming at them for stealing their favourite dress to gabbing about the latest family gossip in less than two minutes flat.
It is a distinct bond familiar to sisters Kathleen, Bernie and Joan Plunkett. In 1976, their sister Elizabeth left a pub in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, after a row with her boyfriend.
She walked down the road to cool off, and instead, she met Ireland's first serial killers - John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans.
Elizabeth's murder and later that of Mayo woman Mary Duffy would become two of the most heinous crimes in the history of the Irish State.
While many believe Elizabeth's case concluded nearly 50 years ago after both men received life sentences for their crimes, this is far from the truth.
This is why in July 2024, Bernie and Kathleen found themselves contacting the team at RTÉ Documentary On One.
The women had already asked the DPP, the Garda Commissioner and the State Solicitor's Office for help, but to no avail, so this was their last resort.
The result is Stolen Sister, a six-part podcast series unpacking how a parole application from Shaw, now the State's longest-serving prison, shattered everything the family thought they knew about their sister's case.
Kathleen and Bernie, with the assistance of other family members and some friends of Elizabeth, will, for the first time, lead the public behind the scenes of Elizabeth's case, recounting memories of the days leading up to and after her murder.
Mary Duffy's sister will also contribute to the series - it will be the first time anyone from the Duffy family has spoken publicly in nearly 50 years.
The combination of witness statements and the murderer's recollections transports the listener back to 1976, creating a chilling realism that when juxtaposed against a family reflecting on their trauma, solicits a tension and discomfort few true crime podcasts achieve.
The two timelines of past reflection and present-day reality ensure that the audience can never relax or slip into the slightly unhealthy state of enjoyment that often comes while listening to true crime, you remain painfully aware of what happened to Elizabeth, how she was likely feeling and the impact her death has had on her loved ones to this day.
While many believe Elizabeth's case concluded nearly 50 years ago after both men received life sentences for their crimes, this is far from the truth.
The producer behind the podcast, Nicoline Greer, said she was partially drawn to the project because of the Plunkett family's deep bond and dedication to getting justice for their sister.
Something they claim she was robbed of, despite what the history books say.
"Bernie and Kathleen have been the main spokespeople for the family in this podcast. They speak so eloquently and authentically about their experience and about how loved Elizabeth was," said Greer.
"We are very honoured that they have trusted us to tell Elizabeth's story."
Greer added that the series uncovered other attempted abductions that were never before linked to this case.
Stolen Sister is narrated by model, author, radio host and influencer Rozanna Purcell.
In truth, when one thinks of a gruesome crime story, Roz Purcell is not a name that comes to mind - however, the familiarity of her voice lends beautifully to Elizabeth's story.
Purcell''s image is squarely focused on relatability whether discussing body issues, her love of the outdoors or her sisters - she exemplifies the normal everyday struggles of the average Irish woman, albeit with model good looks.
Elizabeth was the middle child of eight; her family and friends recall how she adored fashion, travelling and music. She was an everyday Irish woman doing the most natural thing in the world, walking down the street when her life was suddenly stolen.
It is perhaps this relatability that makes this tale such an unnerving listen, a fact Purcell touches on throughout her narration.
The podcast also highlights the glaring failings within the Irish and English legal systems and the stark reality that if proper justice had originally been served, maybe Elizabeth and Mary could still be alive.
This series is about justice, not spectacle.
Both men were from the North of England and had arrived in Ireland to evade rape charges in the UK.
They were arrested in Ireland before the murders for burglary and had a year-long stay in Irish prisons in Limerick and Mountjoy. When they murdered Elizabeth and Mary, they were awaiting an extradition hearing back to the UK.
After they were caught, the men told the gardaí they knew they had limited time left, so they decided to abduct, rape and murder a woman for a week until they were caught, and that's exactly what they did.
The statements given by Shaw and Evans in the aftermath of the murders are recited throughout the episodes as they recount in detail how they hunted and executed the women.
What stands out is the repeated use of the word "bird" while referring to their victims. They dehumanise and objectify women with this verbal tic, reinforcing how inconsequential and disposable their victims are to them.
The series alludes to what happened to Elizabeth in the woods the night she was killed but handles the details around her final hours with great care, another nod to its refusal to bend to common genre tropes and its respect for the Plunkett family - reminding the listener that this series is about justice, not spectacle.
Throughout, the family describe the split in their lives: life before Elizabeth died and life after her murder.
In the words of her brother Eddie - "We were a very united, large Dublin working class family. The bond then was unique… Little did we know that all of this would come crashing down, it destroyed the peace."
The series is aided by an epic soundtrack that would not be out of place on an HBO TV show, compliments of Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck and performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
The music imitates the emotional states of the people at the centre of this story, when the Plunkett family return to Brittas Bay for the first time since their sister's murder the dominant string instrument, the violin, is accompanied by a harp to lighten the tone, mimicking the motion of the waves climbing up and down the scale.
It feels solem and contemplative as the family ruminates on their present day relationship with the area, knowing now what happened to their sister.
A colleague remarked to me when I told her what I was working on that the murders of Elizabeth and Mary reminded her of the iconic surrealist television series Twin Peaks, in which a beautiful young woman is attacked in a wood, murdered and her body thrown in a lake to be found by the townspeople.
The character's death awakens an evil in her rural town that shatters illusions of a peaceful world and changes the fabric of all who inhabit it.
Except this story is not a fantasy, these characters were real people, emblematic of an ongoing reality for women and a justice system that continues to fail them.
