0:00

You're listening to the Mens Raya Podcast,

0:02

and this is the story of

0:05

Leila Brennan.

0:30

Leila Brennan's

0:32

Story On

0:41

the morning of Friday, March

0:43

5th, 1999, a man and a woman walked

0:45

into Rathfarnham Garda station.

0:48

The man approached the desk and told

0:50

the station orderly on duty that he wanted

0:52

to speak to a detective. When

0:54

asked what the nature of his inquiry was, the

0:57

man told the astonished young Garda

0:59

that he had killed a woman a few days earlier.

1:02

The man was 26-year-old Philip Colgan,

1:05

and the woman accompanying him was his wife,

1:07

Mary. They were quickly ushered

1:10

into a waiting room where they were joined by two

1:12

detectives. Colgan calmly

1:14

told officers that he had killed a young woman,

1:17

describing where he had disposed of the

1:19

body, the murder weapon and the

1:21

victim's clothes.

1:23

Throughout his statement, his wife sat

1:25

beside him, encouraging him to tell

1:27

the truth. It was an

1:29

unusual situation for Gardie. Here

1:32

was Colgan admitting to murder, yet

1:34

as far as they knew, no crime had been

1:36

reported.

1:37

However, they took his claim seriously,

1:39

and as he spoke to the detectives,

1:42

a number of Gardie were directed to the secluded

1:44

area of Woodland in Killikee, County

1:46

Dublin, where Colgan was claiming

1:48

to have disposed of his victim.

1:51

Less than half an hour later, the officers radioed

1:53

back to the station to say that they had

1:56

uncovered the naked body of a woman who

1:58

appeared to have horrific

1:59

head injuries.

2:01

Colgan was arrested and held in

2:03

Rathvarnam Garda station as a full

2:06

murder investigation was launched, and

2:08

Garde found themselves in the peculiar situation

2:10

where they had a perpetrator and a victim,

2:13

but they had no idea as

2:15

to who she was.

2:17

In his initial statement to Garde, Colgan

2:20

told them that he didn't know the young woman,

2:22

he said that he had spent the Monday evening with

2:24

a friend named Stephen McCurdy, drinking

2:27

in a bar close to Stephen's Green.

2:29

The pair had been chatting up two women,

2:31

and when these women left to head to Temple

2:33

Bar, Colgan and McCurdy followed

2:35

them.

2:36

The ladies made their excuses and skipped

2:38

into Aiman Doran's,

2:40

where the boyfriend of one of the women was working as

2:42

a bouncer.

2:43

Colgan was denied entry, and following

2:46

a row with McCurdy, the two men went their separate

2:48

ways,

2:49

with McCurdy walking home in the rain and Colgan

2:52

heading back to his car.

2:54

According to retired detective Alan

2:56

Bailey, who documented the case in his book Missing

2:58

Presumed, Colgan said that he was

3:00

driving along Dame Street when he spotted a woman

3:03

walking alone. He stopped to

3:05

ask her for directions and she asked him if

3:07

he was quote, looking for business.

3:10

According to Colgan, the woman offered to have

3:12

sex with him for money, and in a moment

3:14

of weakness he'd agreed.

3:16

She got into his car and they smoked a cigarette,

3:19

as he followed the woman's directions, driving

3:21

to a laneway beside a rugby pitch in Balls

3:24

Bridge.

3:25

The woman took off her clothes, but by this

3:27

time Colgan claimed that he had changed

3:29

his mind about having sex with her, fearing

3:31

the damage it could do to his marriage.

3:34

He told the young woman that he had changed his mind

3:36

and offered to drop her back to Nassau Street, but

3:38

he recounted to officers that on hearing

3:41

this, the woman had

3:43

become very aggressive and demanded that he pay her £60.

3:47

When he refused, she told him that

3:49

she knew his registration number and that she'd

3:51

go to the Gardee and tell them that he

3:53

had raped her. She then opened

3:55

the passenger door of the vehicle and attempted

3:58

to get out, wearing just her bra and a suit.

3:59

underwear. Colgan claimed

4:02

that this had panicked him and he'd hit

4:04

her in the face to stun her before

4:06

pulling her back into the car.

4:08

The woman began to scream and in an

4:10

attempt to quieten her, Colgan said

4:12

he'd put his hands around her neck and started

4:14

to choke her.

4:15

She struggled with him, striking out and

4:18

scratching him across the face and hands,

4:20

but he managed to overpower her.

4:22

Colgan then removed the woman's bra and

4:24

wrapped it around her neck,

4:26

pulling tight until she stopped moving.

4:28

It was only then, said Colgan,

4:30

that he realised the enormity of what he

4:32

had done.

4:33

He then loaded the body into the boot of his

4:36

car and drove towards the Dublin Mountains.

4:39

When he found what he thought was a suitable spot

4:41

Colgan said he pulled over into a lay-by

4:44

and dragged the young woman's body across a patch

4:46

of gorse until he came to the edge of

4:48

a steep incline.

4:50

It was then that he realised that the woman was

4:52

in fact still breathing.

4:54

He placed her on the ground and nudged her unconscious

4:57

body, sending it rolling down the hill.

4:59

He returned to his car and

5:02

retrieved his wheel brace, an anti-theft

5:04

device, before walking down to where

5:07

the woman now lay at the base of the hill.

5:10

Colgan used the heavy metal tool

5:12

to strike the woman a number of times in the

5:14

head until he was sure that she was dead.

5:17

He then gathered her clothing and placed

5:19

it in a bag with the wheel brace.

5:23

He headed back towards the city and

5:25

in a panic Colgan rang his wife

5:27

and asked her to come and collect him.

5:30

When she arrived she found him in a highly

5:32

distressed state with his clothes covered

5:34

in mud. Mary noticed a number

5:36

of injuries to her husband's face,

5:39

including some half-moon shaped indents,

5:41

and when she asked him about what had happened

5:44

he told her that they'd been caused during

5:46

an altercation with Gardee earlier

5:48

in the night.

5:49

He claimed that the officers had pulled him over

5:51

and a scuffle ensued,

5:53

resulting in Gardee beating Colgan

5:55

and impounding his car.

5:58

However, over the next few days Colgan was in the hospital.

5:59

Morgan's erratic behaviour continued,

6:02

and he refused to leave the couple's home at Cranach

6:04

Castle, Rathvarnam.

6:06

Mary begged him to tell her what was wrong

6:09

and what had really happened in the early hours

6:11

of the previous Tuesday morning.

6:13

Finally, he relented, telling her

6:15

that he had cheated on her with a sex worker and

6:17

that something bad had happened between them.

6:20

Eventually, he confessed what he had done to

6:22

his wife in the hope that she would cover for him

6:24

and provide him with an alibi.

6:27

In his book, Alan Bailey wrote quote, He

6:29

was so confident of her infatuation

6:31

with him and the power that it gave him over her

6:34

that he decided to come clean.

6:36

But Mary Colgan had not responded

6:39

in the way that her husband had anticipated.

6:41

Absolutely repulsed by what he had told

6:44

her, Mary insisted that Colgan contact

6:46

Gardee and confess.

6:48

As a man who was apparently used to manipulating

6:51

women to get his own way, Philip Colgan

6:53

was taken completely by surprise by

6:55

his wife's refusal to lie for him.

6:58

Instead, she insisted that he write

7:00

down what happened in order to get the story

7:02

out of his head. After some coaxing,

7:05

Colgan agreed and he dictated his

7:07

account of what had happened to Mary, who wrote it

7:09

down.

7:10

He spent the rest of the evening mulling over his

7:12

options before giving in and going

7:14

to the Garda station, accompanied by Mary

7:16

the following morning.

7:19

In an attempt to identify the body,

7:21

investigators set about trawling recent

7:23

reports of missing women,

7:25

but this brought them no leads.

7:28

Eventually, a detailed description of the woman

7:30

was released to the media and was broadcast

7:32

on television and radio news bulletins,

7:34

as well as being printed in newspaper reports.

7:38

It said the woman was five foot, five

7:40

inches tall,

7:41

approximately ten stone with dyed

7:43

brown hair.

7:45

Of note, she was said to have a small scar

7:47

under her chin and small blue dots

7:49

tattooed on the knuckles of her right hand.

7:52

When Richard Brennan heard the television

7:55

appeal, he immediately felt a sense

7:57

of unease.

7:58

The description of the woman matched

7:59

his 24-year-old daughter Layla,

8:02

who he hadn't heard from in a number of days.

8:05

Originally from Klondalkan, Layla

8:07

had worked as a receptionist in a dental practice

8:10

in the liberties after finishing school.

8:12

However, she fell in with a bad crowd and

8:15

after becoming addicted to heroin, Layla

8:17

lost her job and ended up turning to

8:19

sex work to make ends meet.

8:21

By early 1999 she was living

8:23

with friends in the city centre

8:25

and to her family she appeared to have

8:27

overcome her addiction. Nonetheless,

8:29

her father was so disturbed

8:32

by the description of the body that Gurdi had

8:34

found in the Dublin Mountains that he drove

8:36

to Rathvarnam Garda station to speak

8:38

to the investigators.

8:40

Richard Brennan was taken to the city morgue,

8:43

where he identified the young woman's

8:45

body as his daughter, Layla.

8:49

After a number of initial interviews, Gurdi

8:51

formally charged Philip Colgan on Saturday

8:54

March the 6th,

8:55

the day after he presented himself at

8:57

Rathvarnam Garda station. In

8:59

answer to the charge, Colgan replied,

9:01

quote, I have made full statements.

9:05

Colgan appeared in Dublin District Court

9:07

wearing an iron sweater and jeans and

9:09

when asked by Judge Desmond Windle if he

9:11

was working, Colgan shook his head.

9:14

When asked if he had been working the previous

9:16

week, Colgan replied that he had been

9:18

quote, selling clothes.

9:20

He was granted free legal aid and remanded

9:23

in custody. Meanwhile,

9:25

officers conducted thorough searches

9:27

of the area at Kilkey where Layla had been

9:30

found.

9:31

They also examined Philip Colgan's

9:33

home and in a bin close

9:35

to his house, Gurdi uncovered a stashed

9:37

bag containing a number of items

9:40

of clothing stained with blood, along

9:42

with a wheel brace which was also

9:44

covered in blood.

9:46

These items were taken along with Colgan's

9:48

car for forensic testing.

9:51

Philip Colgan was no stranger to trouble.

9:54

In November of 1991, at

9:56

the age of just 18, he broke

9:58

into an apartment at an elg... elderly sheltered

10:00

living facility near his home in Donnermead,

10:03

following a binge of ecstasy and alcohol.

10:05

The 79-year-old

10:07

widowed occupant woke at 2am

10:09

to find Culgan lying on top of her

10:12

with a knife to her throat.

10:13

He told her that if she screamed he would kill

10:16

her. The woman, who suffered from

10:18

asthma, began to wheeze, and she begged

10:20

Culgan for access to her inhaler, but

10:22

he refused.

10:24

He raped her before tying her up with the straps

10:26

of her handbag and subjecting her to

10:28

further sexual degradation.

10:31

Before he left, he stole 120 pounds

10:33

from the woman and told her that he would ring

10:36

Garde to come and release her,

10:38

but he failed to do so.

10:40

Thankfully, she managed to raise the alarm

10:42

with neighbours by banging her head on the

10:44

wall beside her bed.

10:46

Just two days after this attack, Culgan,

10:48

who was working as a chef at the time,

10:51

struck again.

10:52

This time his victim was a 32-year-old Spanish woman

10:56

who he met at McGonagall's nightclub on

10:58

South Ann Street in the city centre.

11:00

The woman had travelled to Dublin to undergo

11:02

hospital treatment for a serious illness,

11:05

and after meeting Culgan on a night

11:07

out she agreed to go back to his home, where

11:10

he said a party was taking place.

11:13

When they got there, the woman realised that

11:15

the apartment was empty,

11:16

and Culgan forced her into his bedroom

11:19

where he began to sexually assault her.

11:21

Chillingly, as the attack was taking place,

11:24

Garde knocked on Culgan's door to

11:26

ask him to turn down the loud music he was

11:28

playing, but unfortunately the woman

11:30

was unable to draw their attention.

11:33

Eventually she made her escape, and officers

11:35

who were searching nearby in relation to the first

11:38

attack later arrested Culgan.

11:40

Philip Culgan was sentenced to eight

11:43

years for the rape of the elderly woman, along

11:45

with a concurrent sentence of six years for

11:47

the attack on the Spanish woman.

11:50

Justice Paul Carney said at the time

11:52

that he was adopting a quote relatively

11:55

lenient approach on the basis of Culgan's

11:57

young age, his lack of previous conduct.

12:00

convictions, and his willingness to plead

12:02

guilty and spare his victims the trauma

12:04

of giving evidence.

12:06

While serving his sentences for these crimes

12:08

in Wheatfield Prison,

12:10

Culgan attended counselling sessions as

12:12

part of the sex offender's rehabilitation

12:14

programme, where he crossed paths with

12:16

an older psychologist named Mary

12:18

Gaffney. The

12:20

two formed a close bond,

12:22

and it would later become clear that Culgan had

12:24

used a mixture of charm and manipulation

12:27

to convince Mary that he had been rehabilitated.

12:30

Because of this he was given normal

12:32

remission on his eight year sentence, and

12:35

when he left the prison in 1998 after serving just six years for

12:40

aggravated rape and sexual assault, Mary

12:42

Gaffney was waiting for him.

12:45

Following a whirlwind romance, the

12:47

pair married in September of that year.

12:49

They settled in the Cranicassel

12:51

estate, and despite their age

12:53

gap, the couple appeared to be happy and

12:55

content. Unaware of Culgan's

12:58

murky past, neighbours held him in high regard,

13:01

saying that he was popular and good company.

13:04

Culgan's murder of Leila Brennan occurred

13:06

less than a year after his release from

13:08

prison, and just six

13:11

months after his wedding day.

13:21

After the discovery of Leila's

13:24

body, a post-mortem was performed

13:26

by Deputy State Pathologist Dr.

13:28

Mary Cassidy,

13:29

who concluded that the young woman had died

13:32

from strangulation. In

13:34

addition, the pathologist observed bruising

13:36

to the vaginal area, indicating that there

13:38

had been attempted force penetration. This

13:41

cast doubt on Culgan's account

13:43

to Gardee in which he claimed that he didn't

13:45

have any sexual contact with Leila.

13:48

Dr Cassidy found that

13:50

Leila's torso and legs were covered in scratches

13:53

and scrapes, which she surmised was

13:55

caused by the body being dragged through the brambles

13:58

and foliage.

13:59

note, was the fact that Layla

14:01

had suffered from hypothermia prior

14:04

to her death, but she had ultimately

14:06

died from lack of oxygen caused by

14:08

manual and ligature strangulation.

14:10

The

14:11

woman also had bruising consistent

14:14

with having received a blow to the mouth,

14:16

and there was an incline in her skull which

14:18

was determined to have been the result of blunt

14:20

force trauma. Layla

14:23

had been found with her bra knotted tightly

14:25

around her neck, her body was naked

14:27

except for a shoe and a sock.

14:29

The clothing that had been discovered in the bag

14:31

near Philip Colgan's home was confirmed

14:33

to have belonged to the young woman. In

14:36

another contradiction to Colgan's statement,

14:38

these items were spattered with blood, indicating

14:41

that she had been dressed when she was assaulted with

14:43

the wheel brace, before being stripped

14:46

after her death. Forensic

14:48

testing of Colgan's car revealed both

14:50

hair and blood samples that were identified

14:53

as having belonged to Layla,

14:55

with much of the blood being found in the back

14:57

seat. This supported

15:00

the story that he had given to Garde in

15:02

his initial statements. Layla

15:05

Brennan was laid to rest on Wednesday,

15:07

March 10th, 1999. Journalist Yvonne Kinsella,

15:10

reporting

15:12

for the Echo, wrote that hundreds

15:14

of people packed into St Peter the Apostle's

15:16

Church at Neelstown to pay their final respects

15:19

to the young woman.

15:20

Her heartbroken parents were comforted by

15:23

neighbours and friends as they sat at the top of

15:25

the church with their other daughter and son.

15:27

Layla's boyfriend was also in attendance.

15:30

In his eulogy, Father Jerry Dempsey

15:32

described Layla as a beautiful, caring

15:34

and generous young woman who had a large circle

15:37

of friends.

15:38

Her coffin was covered with floral tributes,

15:41

and a striking photo of Layla was placed

15:43

among the bouquets,

15:44

her candid expression staring out into

15:46

the congregation.

15:48

Tears wept openly as Layla's

15:50

favourite Eric Clapton songs, Tears

15:53

in Heaven and Layla, echoed through

15:55

the church.

15:57

Following the emotionally charged service,

15:59

Layla Brennan was

15:59

lay to rest in Palmer's 10th Cemetery.

16:02

In the weeks after

16:04

her funeral, Layla's parents, who both

16:06

worked with young people in the local area,

16:08

released a statement thanking the community for

16:11

their support, following their daughter's death.

16:13

They wrote that the flowers, good wishes, and

16:16

prayers of locals had been a huge comfort

16:18

for them, as they struggled to come to terms

16:20

with the loss of Layla. Following

16:23

Colgan's arrest, he was detained at the

16:25

Central Mental Hospital, before being

16:27

returned to Mount Joy, where he was held

16:29

on remand.

16:31

Here, his story about the events of the

16:33

night that Layla had died began to evolve

16:36

dramatically.

16:37

During a visit with his wife Mary, Colgan

16:39

told her that a Scottish man called Wayne

16:42

had forced him to kill Layla at knife

16:44

point. He said that he had initially

16:46

met Wayne in a gay bar in the city centre

16:49

on the evening of Layla's death, and the

16:51

pair had exchanged mobile telephone numbers

16:53

before engaging in oral sex.

16:55

Wayne had then suggested that they pick up a woman.

16:59

Colgan then became confused,

17:01

telling his wife that this wasn't true, and

17:03

instead he said he had picked up a homeless person

17:05

on the street who was present when Layla

17:08

died. This story changed

17:10

yet again when Colgan said that both the

17:12

homeless person and Wayne had taken part

17:15

in the killing. Then the

17:17

story reverted back to just Colgan

17:19

and Wayne being present, with Colgan

17:21

claiming that he had been driving around Dublin

17:23

city centre with Wayne when they spotted Layla

17:25

Brennan walking along Dame Street. Wayne

17:28

told him to stop the car, saying that Layla

17:31

owed him money. The plan, said

17:33

Colgan, was that the pair would both have sex with

17:35

Layla, to cancel the debt owed

17:37

by her to Wayne. They

17:40

picked her up and drove to the Belvedere Rugby

17:42

Grounds in Balls Bridge, where Colgan

17:44

said he got out of the car to give Wayne

17:46

and Layla some privacy. When

17:49

it started to rain, he had walked a few hundred

17:51

feet to take shelter under a canopy.

17:54

He claimed he returned to the car 15 to 30 minutes

17:56

later and found Wayne distraught, and

17:59

Layla faced down in the backseat of the car

18:01

with her bra tied around her neck.

18:03

Wayne told him that while having sex, Layla

18:05

had tried to dip him,

18:07

meaning she'd attempted to take money out of his pocket.

18:10

The

18:10

struggle had ensued, and Wayne had

18:12

ended up killing the young woman.

18:15

According to Colgan, the two men then panicked

18:17

and started arguing about what to do with the

18:19

body. Colgan was afraid that

18:21

if Layla's body was found, then his homosexual

18:24

encounter with Wayne could be uncovered,

18:26

thus ending his marriage.

18:28

The pair ultimately decided to dispose

18:30

of Layla's body, they loaded her into the

18:32

boot, drove to a lay-by and killed

18:34

a key, and dumped her remains in a ditch.

18:37

After disposing of the body,

18:39

Colgan then said he and Wayne had fought

18:42

violently. He rendered Wayne

18:44

unconscious and then put him in the boot of his car,

18:46

driving him further into the mountains. However,

18:49

this was as much as Colgan would disclose

18:51

about the mysterious Wayne, and he subsequently

18:54

refused to say whether or not his accomplice

18:56

was alive when placed in the boot of the car,

18:59

or what he did with him when he got further

19:01

into the mountains. Colgan's

19:04

murder trial opened on October

19:07

24th, 2000, presided over by Mr

19:09

Justice Paul Butler. Evidence

19:12

of his previous rape convictions were not

19:14

introduced to the jury as they were deemed

19:16

to be prejudicial. In

19:18

her opening statement, Senior Council Maureen

19:21

Clark recounted Colgan's original eight

19:23

statements to Gardee.

19:25

In the version of events outlined there, the

19:27

one that the state would argue was the truthful

19:30

account of what had occurred,

19:31

Colgan said he had been drinking on the night of

19:33

March 2nd, and as he set off home

19:35

he met Layla Brennan, who had gotten into

19:38

Colgan's van under the pretext of

19:40

sex in exchange for money. The

19:42

court heard about Colgan's claim that

19:44

Layla had asked him for £60 and

19:46

Layla's alleged threat that she

19:48

had his reg plate, and would report

19:50

him for rape if he didn't hand over money.

19:53

Following this, Colgan began to panic at the

19:55

thought of going to jail, and he told Layla

19:57

to shut up.

19:58

He'd punched her, and she on screaming, and

20:01

he tried to strangle her to quiet the young

20:03

woman down. Miss Clark stated

20:05

quote, he knocked her out to stun her, and

20:08

then he drove her to the Dublin Mountains and

20:10

put her in the ditch. The

20:12

prosecution told the jury that they would hear from

20:14

the pathologist that Layla's neck had marks

20:17

consistent with strangulation, and

20:19

that the bra wrapped around her neck was quote,

20:21

pulled so tight that the wire went

20:24

into her neck. Colgan's

20:26

wife Mary, who had since separated

20:28

from him, gave evidence to the court

20:30

regarding her husband's admissions to her in

20:33

the days following Layla's murder. Her

20:35

account was reported by Suzanne MacManus

20:38

who covered the case extensively for the Irish Examiner.

20:41

Mary recalled that she had received a late-night

20:43

phone call from Colgan at

20:46

2.20am on March 2nd,

20:48

and how distressed Colgan sounded

20:50

as he asked her to come and collect him, from St

20:52

Anne's Park in Raheeney.

20:55

When she arrived, Mary said that her husband was

20:57

covered in mud and was in a quote, animalistic

21:00

state.

21:01

She told the court quote, I'll remember that

21:03

look till my dying day.

21:05

He had the fear of God in him. His eyes were

21:07

wild, absolutely terrified.

21:10

Colgan initially told his wife that he had been

21:12

beaten up by Garde, but Mary recounted

21:14

his erratic behaviour in the following days,

21:16

and how she had pressed him to tell her the truth.

21:19

Eventually, she said her husband had admitted

21:21

meeting a sex worker on the Monday evening. Quote,

21:25

he said he had been with a woman and

21:27

had something terrible to tell me and didn't

21:29

know how he was going to find the words to tell

21:31

me. After more coaxing

21:33

from Mary, Colgan gave her more information.

21:37

Mary detailed the account that her husband gave

21:39

her, recounting that Layla had begun to undress

21:41

and asked for money. When she'd tried

21:43

to get out of the car, Colgan said he'd pulled her

21:45

back and that he was afraid of any allegations

21:48

the other woman might make. Mary

21:50

then said her husband admitted to her that he'd

21:53

hit Layla Brennan and that quote on

21:55

the second hit she'd conked out. According

21:58

to the witness, Colgan told her he tried

22:00

to revive the young woman, but when she

22:03

woke up she became argumentative, the

22:05

accused had told her that the young woman had started screaming

22:08

very loudly, and Colgan wanted

22:10

to silence her. Asked

22:12

by Maureen Clark if her husband admitted

22:14

then that he had strangled Leila, Ms.

22:16

Colgan replied, yes. Mary

22:19

said that Colgan had gone on to explain that

22:21

he had put Leila's body in the boot of the car,

22:24

drove up the Dublin Mountains, and put her body

22:26

into a ditch. After

22:28

hearing this shocking admission, Mary

22:30

Colgan said she had instructed her husband to

22:32

write down what he had just told her in order

22:34

to get it out of his head, and she

22:37

alleged that he had complied, dictating

22:39

his account to her. In part, the

22:41

account read, quote, I hit her the second

22:43

time and knocked her out. When she woke up,

22:46

she was screaming, I couldn't stop her. I

22:48

grabbed her by the throat and squeezed until

22:50

she stopped moving. I put

22:52

her in the boot of the car and drove to

22:54

the Dublin Mountains.

22:55

After this, Mrs. Colgan told the court that

22:58

after their visit to the Garda station, her husband

23:00

was first brought to the Central Mental Hospital

23:03

and then sent to Mount Joy. While

23:05

visiting him there, Mary recalled that his story

23:08

began to change, and that although Philip

23:10

Colgan was still admitting to killing Leila,

23:12

he was now saying that he did it under threat from

23:14

a man he had met earlier in the night. In

23:17

this version, Colgan told Mary about meeting

23:20

a Scottish man called Wayne, and that

23:22

the two of them had picked Leila up. Mary

23:25

recounted how the story later changed again

23:27

when Colgan told her that a, quote, tramp he

23:29

had picked up in the streets was present,

23:32

and in yet another account he told her that both Wayne

23:34

and the vagrant had been there. The

23:37

stories became more erratic and wild,

23:39

with Colgan even confessing that he had, quote,

23:42

murdered the tramp and hidden his body. Mary

23:45

said that her husband later retracted this

23:47

story and refused to discuss it

23:50

any further with her. Next,

23:52

Deputy State Pathologist Mary Cassidy

23:54

gave evidence, telling the court that

23:56

Leila Brennan had been found in a wooded area,

23:59

mostly naked. except for a schionasoc.

24:02

Her bra was tightly wound around her

24:04

neck and her body was covered in scratches from

24:06

being dragged through the undergrowth.

24:09

Though Layla had become hypothermic

24:11

before she died, Dr Cassidy

24:13

said that ultimately her cause of

24:15

death was both manual and ligature strangulation.

24:18

Fingernail scratches had been observed

24:20

on Layla's face and neck, which the

24:23

pathologist testified may have been caused

24:25

by the young woman trying to remove a hand

24:27

that had been placed around her neck and mouth.

24:30

Bruising around the mouth was also evident

24:32

which supported Philip Colgan's account

24:34

of punching Layla twice. In

24:37

addition to these wounds, Dr Cassidy

24:39

described an injury to Layla's skull which

24:41

she said was a result of blunt force trauma

24:44

and that this injury was consistent

24:46

with a wheel brace which was produced in court.

24:50

This was the same wheel brace that had been uncovered

24:52

in a bin near Philip Colgan's house

24:55

along with some of Layla Brennan's bloodstained

24:57

clothes.

24:59

Evidence of Colgan's early statements

25:01

were then read to the court by Detective Sergeant

25:03

Cyril Claffey. In his

25:06

initial interview, when asked if he had meant to

25:08

kill Layla Brennan, Colgan had allegedly

25:10

responded, quote, no, but once

25:12

I hit her I knew I had to kill her. When

25:15

asked why, Colgan had replied by repeating

25:18

the notion that Layla had identifying

25:20

information and would go to the guards with

25:22

false accusations. Officers

25:25

asked him why he kept squeezing her neck

25:27

and according to the statement, Colgan had said

25:29

he had been afraid of going back to jail. In

25:32

a second interview on March 6th 1999,

25:36

Colgan was alleged to have told Gardee, quote,

25:39

I didn't set out to kill her, I just want

25:41

her family to know I am sorry and my

25:43

family as well. Next,

25:45

prosecution witness Margot Dukes gave

25:48

evidence to the court about growling and screeching

25:50

noises she heard on the night that Layla

25:53

was killed.

25:54

Ms. Dukes was working as an overnight

25:56

home help nurse close to Belvedere Rugby

25:58

grounds and in

25:59

In the early hours of March 2nd, 1999, she

26:03

said she had been alarmed to hear the sounds,

26:05

which were so loud that she thought they would

26:07

damage the vocal cords of whoever was

26:09

making them. Ms. Dukes told

26:11

the jury that the howls seemed to be coming from

26:14

two people,

26:15

either two men or a man and a woman,

26:17

and she recalled that the ferocity

26:20

of the noises had frightened her.

26:24

On Friday, October 27th, Philip Colgan took the

26:26

stand in his own defence and gave an even

26:34

more

26:39

convoluted version of events to the court.

26:42

He told the jury that he had been driving around

26:44

on the night of the killing with a man named Wayne

26:47

when they spotted Leila Brennan walking

26:49

along Dame Street. Wayne asked

26:51

him to stop the car and Leila got

26:54

in. They drove towards Donnybrook

26:56

and Colgan said, quote, There

26:58

was an understanding between us because

27:00

she owed him money.

27:02

I asked him did she owe enough for both

27:04

of us so that we'd both be able to have sex

27:06

with her, and he said yeah.

27:09

Colgan explained that he had parked in the grounds

27:11

of the rugby club and had gotten out so that

27:13

Wayne could have sex with Leila. He'd

27:16

walked to a nearby canopy to take shelter

27:18

from the rain and claimed that he didn't hear

27:20

or see anything untoward while he waited.

27:24

Of course, this contradicted Ms. Duke's

27:26

earlier evidence of hearing growling and

27:28

screaming noises within the vicinity of the rugby

27:30

grounds.

27:32

Colgan again said that he had returned to

27:34

the car 15 to 30 minutes later

27:37

and there saw Leila face down on

27:39

the backseat of the car, with her bra

27:41

wrapped around her neck. Given her

27:43

appearance at the time, the look on her face,

27:46

Colgan told the court that he was sure Leila

27:48

was dead.

27:50

According to the accused, his companion

27:52

had then claimed that Leila had tried to

27:54

steal money from his pocket and that

27:56

he'd lost control and killed her in anger.

27:59

Both men began arguing about what they

28:02

should do. Colgan feared that

28:04

his wife would leave him if she learned about

28:06

his sexual encounter with Wayne,

28:08

which would come out if there was an investigation

28:10

into Layla's death.

28:12

Eventually the men decided that the only

28:14

way to avoid arrest was to dispose

28:16

of Layla's body. They loaded her into

28:19

the boot of Colgan's car and drove out

28:21

beyond Rathfarnham Village

28:23

onto the road at Killakee.

28:25

There they pulled into a layby and

28:27

removed the body from the boot, dragging

28:29

it through the thicket before dumping it in a ditch.

28:32

Colgan claimed that as he walked back to

28:34

his car he turned to see Wayne striking

28:37

Layla's head repeatedly with a wheel brace.

28:40

Painting himself as the victim in the scenario,

28:43

Colgan said that he had pulled into that layby

28:45

because he was afraid of going any further into

28:47

the isolated mountains with Wayne.

28:49

He asserted that he had been afraid for his own safety.

28:52

According to the accused, when Wayne

28:54

arrived back to the car, an altercation

28:57

broke out between the pair. Colgan

28:59

said he had grabbed the other man and that quote,

29:02

I felt if I didn't I was going to end up

29:04

getting hit with the wheel brace.

29:06

The two men struggled violently with each other

29:09

and Colgan explained to the jury that he had rendered

29:11

Wayne unconscious before putting him into

29:13

the boot of his car.

29:15

Colgan then drove deeper into the mountains.

29:17

When asked if Wayne was alive

29:20

when put into the boot of the car, Colgan responded,

29:22

quote, I'd rather not answer that.

29:25

When asked where he went and what he did when

29:27

he got further into the mountains, Colgan gave

29:29

the same reply,

29:31

adding that he left the scene around 15

29:33

minutes later.

29:35

The defendant went on to explain the next

29:38

actions he had taken that night, telling

29:40

the jury that earlier in the evening

29:42

he had spoken with Wayne's brother by phone,

29:45

arranging to purchase cannabis and ecstasy.

29:47

Because of this, Colgan had been nervous

29:50

as Wayne's brother knew that he, the defendant,

29:53

had been with Wayne and Layla that night

29:55

and was expecting to see him when Colgan called

29:57

to his house.

29:59

him nervous. In order

30:02

to cover his tracks, Culgan had phoned

30:04

Wayne's brother and quote told

30:06

him his brother had killed a woman in the car that

30:08

night

30:09

and we both moved her to the mountains.

30:12

He claimed that he'd then gone and picked

30:14

up Wayne's brother and they travelled

30:17

to the lay-by where Layla had been

30:19

removed from the car earlier that night.

30:22

He'd pointed out where Layla's body had

30:24

been left and the brother went to inspect

30:27

the area on his own.

30:29

Though Culgan said he had knocked gone with the other

30:31

man, he said that Wayne's brother had seen

30:33

Layla's body. Culgan

30:34

went on to say quote, he

30:36

was very distressed for a while and I drove him

30:39

back. I told him I was going straight to the

30:41

police and I hadn't a clue where his brother was.

30:44

When asked why he had contacted Wayne's

30:46

brother, Culgan asserted that he had been

30:48

afraid the brother would report Wayne missing

30:51

and given he knew Culgan had been with Wayne

30:53

that night along with Layla,

30:55

Garde would contact him.

30:57

It would have been easy to figure out that he was the last

30:59

person to see Wayne alive.

31:02

Culgan said that he reckoned if Wayne's

31:04

brother knew that he had been involved in a

31:06

murder, then he might not report him missing

31:08

and no connection could then be made between

31:11

himself and Layla.

31:13

Under cross, Maureen Clark for the prosecution

31:16

asked Culgan why he initially admitted

31:18

killing Layla to Garde

31:20

before later changing his story to say that

31:22

another man had committed the crime, whose

31:24

identity and fate were unknown.

31:27

Culgan responded quote, I didn't kill

31:29

her, Wayne did, and Wayne was never found.

31:31

It's not my fault that it can't be proved.

31:34

Ms Clark put it to him that in his initial

31:36

statements he had given quote an extraordinary

31:39

description to Garde about how Layla

31:41

Brennan had met her death, which had lined

31:43

up with what Deputy State Pathologist

31:45

Dr. Mary Cassidy found in her

31:48

examination.

31:49

Still, Philip Culgan insisted that

31:51

his testimony on the stand was what

31:54

had truly happened.

31:56

When evidence concluded in the trial, Ms

31:58

Clark took to her feet for the evidence.

31:59

her closing argument.

32:01

She told the court that Philip Colgan was a

32:03

quote, cold, dispassionate, calculating

32:06

and clever liar, who had employed

32:08

a Halloween story to convince

32:10

the jury otherwise.

32:12

She said quote, he has succeeded with

32:14

his good looks, intelligence and appearance

32:17

in duping loads of people. However,

32:20

Ms. Clark urged the jury to attach enormous

32:23

importance to the fact that in his first eight

32:25

statements to Gardee,

32:27

Colgan's account of how Leila Brennan died

32:29

matched the findings of the pathologists

32:31

report exactly. Colgan

32:34

claimed to have hit Leila twice in the mouth.

32:36

Dr. Cassidy's report tallied with this.

32:39

Colgan told Gardee he had put his hands

32:41

over her mouth and grabbed her by the throat and

32:44

Dr. Cassidy had found evidence of defensive

32:46

wounds to back this up.

32:48

Clark said that Colgan's original

32:51

statements quote, must be the truth,

32:53

because it was a mirror image of Dr.

32:55

Cassidy's findings.

32:58

In giving his more convoluted version of

33:00

events to the court, Colgan had managed

33:02

to account for how Leila's DNA

33:04

came to be in his car, while also maintaining

33:07

his own innocence.

33:08

He'd also managed to paint Leila Brennan

33:10

in a hugely negative light as a sex

33:13

worker, addict and thief.

33:15

In Ireland at this time, juries were

33:17

required to give a unanimous verdict

33:19

on murder charges and all it would take

33:22

would be for one jury member to be swayed slightly

33:24

by Colgan's bizarre story to result

33:27

in a hung jury or acquittal.

33:30

The jury deliberated for under three

33:32

hours before reaching a unanimous

33:34

verdict, finding Philip Colgan

33:37

guilty of the murder of Leila Brennan. Leila's

33:40

family who had sat in court throughout the

33:42

proceedings, listening to the horrific details

33:44

of her death, wept with relief as

33:46

the verdict was read out with one of them calling

33:49

out quote, there is a God. Mr

33:52

Justice Paul Butler expressed his sympathy

33:54

to the Brennan family, acknowledging

33:56

that he realized how upsetting the evidence

33:59

given in court had been.

33:59

them. He admitted that he

34:02

had to fight back tears at one point.

34:05

Philip Colgan, who sat looking relaxed

34:07

in an open-necked shirt, showed no

34:09

emotion as he was automatically sentenced

34:12

to life imprisonment.

34:14

When the details of Colgan's past rape

34:16

convictions emerged, the Brennan family's

34:19

anguish was amplified.

34:21

Layla's mother Mary commented, quote,

34:23

that man should not have been out. He'd

34:26

already served time for aggravated double

34:28

rape. There is something wrong that

34:30

he was out. Mary

34:32

said that she believed Colgan nearly

34:35

had the jury convinced that he was innocent,

34:37

and that she was relieved he was finally behind

34:39

bars.

34:40

She added that their family would campaign

34:43

against any appeals for early release

34:45

that Colgan made.

34:46

Quote, nothing is going to bring her back,

34:48

but something must be done. There

34:50

are a lot of people out there who have suffered

34:52

because of reoffenders.

34:54

He should never have been out.

34:55

In time, we're going to campaign about this.

34:57

Despite

35:00

the guilty verdict, a number of questions hung

35:02

over the case. If there was any

35:04

amount of truth to Colgan's account, then

35:07

there could potentially have been another murder,

35:09

and another body hidden in the Dublin Mountains.

35:12

Without a surname or any other details,

35:15

it was impossible to confirm the existence

35:17

or identity of Wayne.

35:19

Colgan had refused to say where he allegedly

35:22

drove Wayne to, and whether the man was

35:24

alive or dead,

35:25

which was all very convenient to support

35:28

his own claims of innocence.

35:30

The prosecution had contended throughout

35:32

the trial that this more intricate and

35:34

clever story was a complete fabrication,

35:37

designed by Colgan to escape the murder

35:40

charge. However, if

35:42

he did in fact have an accomplice who we

35:44

ended up killing, then by refusing

35:46

to reveal details of the whereabouts of the body,

35:49

Colgan would have been evading a second

35:51

murder charge. Without a body

35:53

or full confession, a murder charge

35:56

would be almost impossible to pursue.

35:58

Either

35:59

way, the jury...

35:59

found that there was enough evidence beyond

36:02

a reasonable doubt to convict Colgan and

36:05

in the end the story of the second man was

36:07

never fully elaborated on.

36:09

Blood samples taken from Colgan's car

36:11

at the time of his arrest were only ever

36:14

tested against himself and Leila

36:16

Brennan. There

36:17

was a further twist in the story when it

36:19

emerged that when detectives searched

36:21

Colgan's house they found a copy of

36:23

the Star newspaper featuring a story

36:26

on the disappearance of six Leinster women.

36:28

Colgan's wife Mary said that

36:30

this was very strange as he was a quote

36:33

intellectual snob who only ever

36:35

bought the Irish Times though she claimed he

36:37

rarely actually read it. The copy

36:39

of the Star had been purchased a few days

36:42

after Leila Brennan's murder

36:43

and when questioned on why he bought

36:46

the newspaper Colgan told officers

36:48

that he had heard the paper contained a picture

36:50

of the suspect involved in the disappearance

36:52

of the six Leinster women and he wanted to

36:54

see it.

36:56

Officers looked into any potential

36:58

link between Colgan and the missing women

37:00

and it was found that he had been free

37:02

from prison when one of the women, 18-year-old

37:05

Deirdre Jacob, went missing.

37:07

However, according to retired detective

37:10

Alan Bailey, Colgan was never conclusively

37:12

linked to the disappearance of Deirdre or

37:14

any other woman.

37:16

He is still in prison serving out his life sentence

37:18

while holding on to the truth about

37:21

what really happened in the early hours of

37:23

March 2nd, 1999. Leila

37:26

Brennan ultimately paid the price

37:28

with her life that night

37:29

and whether she met with one man or

37:31

two

37:32

will never be known.

37:35

Thank you for listening to Mens Rea, a true crime

37:38

podcast. You can find us on Facebook,

37:40

Twitter and Instagram at MensReaPod

37:43

or you can send an email to mensreapod

37:45

at gmail.com. This podcast

37:47

is made possible in part from generous donations

37:49

by supporters on Patreon. Special

37:52

thanks to Margaret O'Flaherty, Pamela

37:54

McLoughlin, Tracy Garner, Caroline

37:56

O'Neill and Marianne Elizabeth Johnson.

37:59

please do check it out at patreon.com

38:02

forward slash mensreapod. Our

38:05

theme music is Quinn's song The Dance Begins

38:07

by Kevin MacLeod. Additional music

38:09

is by Juanita Meisel and Kevin MacLeod.

38:12

This week's episode was researched and written

38:15

by the amazing Aileen Spearen.

38:18

Additional writing and production was by me, your

38:20

host Sinead. All sources for today's

38:22

episode can be found in the show notes or on

38:25

our website www.mensreapod.com.

38:29

And so, till next time, don't

38:32

do anything I wouldn't do.