Ring of death

Anthony Galvin

" To all appearances, Kerry is an idyllic tourist destination. Yet scratch beneath its scenic surface and the sordid secrets of the county known as 'the Kingdom' flow free like blood. Some of the most notorious murders in the history of Ireland have taken place in Kerry, including a two-day orgy of slaughter perpetrated by state forces during the Civil War, and the case of two farmers, good friends, fighting over a patch of land not big enough to accommodate a picnic blanket, resulting in a killing that inspired the play and film The Field. The county's most infamous case was the discovery of a baby stabbed to death on a beach, with another infant's body found during the subsequent investigation. To this day, the identities of the children, their mothers and the murderer remain a mystery, but the case led to the government setting up a tribunal to investigate the Gardaí and how they...