Minister under fire as British try Irish killer
By Jon Myles
 Irish Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has defended the decision to try the killer of Dublin woman Georgina Eager in Britain —despite her family’s distress at the ordeal.
His comments came after bogus doctor Christopher Newman was jailed for life for the brutal murder of Ms Eager.
It was the first time in modern legal history that a trial had been held in Britain for a crime committed in Ireland.
The decision has left Ms Eager’s family facing bills of more than £15,000 for travel and accommodation.
But Mr McDowell said he was certain the decision to hold the trial in London had been taken for good legal reasons.
He said much of the prosecution’s case relied on statements made by Newman to British police who arrested him in London shortly after he fled Dublin — leaving Ms Eager’s bloodied remains for her distraught family to find.
Mr McDowell said: “A law student who looked at the progress of the trial in Britain would come to the view that depending as it did on confessional material it may well have been the case that it was decided it would be better to try the case where the statements were taken for admissibility reasons.”
Ms Eager’s family have been fiercely critical of the move to hold the trial in Britain and Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keefe is to raise the matter in the Dáil.
Officials in Ireland’s public prosecutors office have denied claims that British authorities asked them to apply for Newman’s extradition.
Despite the row, Ms Eager’s parents George and Sylvia welcomed the verdict.
Mr Eager said: “Georgina was a lovely, gentle daughter and sister.
“The verdict will help us find some peace and deal with her brutal murder.
“We as a family are heartbroken and our lives have changed dramatically. It’s hard to believe she is gone. She gave us 28 years of her love and gentle presence.”
The trial heard 28-year old Ms Eager had given up her job as a beautician in Brown Thomas in Dublin to work as an assistant at Newman’s homeopathic clinic in the city after the pair became romantically involved.
But 62-year-old Newman stab-bed her to death when she tried end their relationship.
He knifed her 21 times and deliberately sliced her spinal cord — leaving the knife embedded in her neck as he fled to London and emptied her bank account. |
