The staff at Jack White’s Inn were to supply information that would prove to be of great assistance to the investigation. They were mostly young girls, many of whom had only temporary employment. Some of the girls, fearful about Catherine’s legendary temper, were somewhat apprehensive about supplying written statements. However, none of them refused to supply a statement. Catherine would be portrayed as a woman with a fearful temper, and a dangerous lust for the opposite sex.
As the pub business got back to near-normality, Catherine’s mind was already in overdrive, and she was being unusually kind and helpful to the girls. She was going out of her way to get them on her side, aware that they would soon be interviewed by the Gardaí about events leading up to, and after, the murder. There is no doubt that she was fearful of what damaging disclosures the staff might make about her. They had suffered untold mental stress because of the treatment meted out to them by Catherine, who seemed to delight in humiliating them, especially if any of her so-called celebrities were within earshot. The younger girls in particular were singled out by her. Now they had stories to tell, the contents of which could, and would, seriously trouble Catherine. They had seen her treatment and hatred of Tom Nevin, her boasts that they were no longer married, her extra-marital affairs, her utterances that the pub would be sold, her dangerous temper, and her solicitations of Anthony Doyle to perjure himself. She asked the staff daily: ‘Were the Guards talking to you?’ ‘What questions did they ask about me?’ ‘Did you make a statement?’ ‘What was in it?’
Eileen Byrne worked in Jack White’s in 1993 as a cleaner for about six months. She left because of the unkind way Catherine treated the staff. She said tension was always evident between Tom and Catherine. The night after Tom Kennedy’s retirement party, Byrne started work at 8 AM and saw four or five Gardaí drinking at the bar with Catherine. Tom was behind the bar and was agitated. He said to Eileen: ‘This will end in tears.’ When she was cleaning the men’s toilet, she heard a noise behind her. She asked if someone was there. Judge O’Buachalla appeared, and she asked him: ‘Could you not have told me you were there?’ He replied: ‘It’s a free country.’ If the judge came in for breakfast, Catherine was to be informed, and she would join him. He would phone occasionally and say that he was on his way. Referring to Gardaí Murphy and Whelan, Catherine had said: ‘They’ll never do their duty again. They’ll never go out on the streets again.’
Elaine McDonagh outlined how Catherine had thrown a knife at her in the kitchen, but fortunately it had missed her. Catherine was angry about the fact that the plate-warmer hadn’t been turned on and the food was being served on cold plates.
Brendan McGraynor recalled receiving a request over the phone from a lady about two or three weeks before St Patrick’s weekend in 1996, seeking bed and breakfast for that holiday weekend. Catherine instructed him to refuse the booking as they were booked out. This was untrue: no bookings had been taken.
Cecelia McDonald worked as a cook at the pub for five years, from 1991 to 1996. She was always paid in cash but on St Patrick’s weekend 1996, Catherine paid her by cheque.
Caroline Strahan made a very interesting statement. She started work at the pub in September 1991, and stayed two years. She said: ‘In the summer of 1992, two Guards from Wicklow came looking for Superintendent Tom Kennedy. I knew he was up with Catherine and went up to tell her. When I knocked and opened the door I saw Tom Kennedy in the bed with her; they were under the covers and Tom had nothing on top. Catherine started panicking, came down after me and went in behind the bar.’
Strahan made another written statement in which she states: ‘Tom and Catherine Nevin never got on; they were sleeping in separate bedrooms. I saw them, Kennedy and Catherine, in her bed loads of times. Catherine used to ring down and I’d bring breakfast up to them. They didn’t care that I’d seen them. Tom Nevin knew this was going on but he never said anything.’
Adrienne Fisher made a statement on 19 April 1996. She worked at the pub for two and a half years, during which she remembers the judge calling regularly to the pub. She recalls Catherine saying: ‘The judge is lovely.’ She felt that Tom Nevin was for some unknown reason afraid of Catherine, as when they had one of their many arguments he was always the one to back down. Catherine also boasted about a boyfriend she had in Northern Ireland. Fisher highlights Catherine’s republican tendencies and loathing for English people, which she once displayed on seeing English customers in the bar, who were complaining about the food. Catherine said: ‘Are those fucking English bastards coming over here complaining? Do they think they own the fucking place?’
Fiona Lawlor was surprised that Catherine paid her by cheque the holiday weekend of Tom’s murder. She thought this was unusual, as it was the first time during her employment at the pub that she had been paid her wages by cheque.
Catherine McGraynor worked as a waitress/chef part time at the pub for two years, in 1995 and 1996. In her statement, she recalls that at around midnight on 18 March, a taxi arrived to take the staff to a disco in Arklow. Catherine informed them that no one was staying overnight at the pub. This was the first time that Catherine had ever issued such a command to them.
Bernie Fleming worked at the pub full time from 8 March 1995. In her statement, she said she had a key to the front door, and the only other key holders were Tom, Catherine and Liz Hudson. There was a spare set hanging on a rack on the left side of the front hallway. Some six or seven weeks before the murder, Tom Nevin asked if she had seen them, as they were missing. She then asked Catherine about them and was told ‘Donnacha O’Buachalla has them’ but not to tell Tom. Within the next day or two, the keys appeared back on the rack in the hallway. O’Buachalla was later to deny under oath in the Central Criminal Court that he ever had these or any other keys for the premises.
During the month prior to the murder, a male caller giving the name John Ferguson phoned on several occasions. Catherine had warned Fleming that no matter where she was or what she was doing, when this man phoned Fleming was to get her immediately. His identity was unknown at that stage, and Catherine was later to deny repeatedly that she had any knowledge of a John Ferguson, or that she had received phone calls from a person using that name.
On 18 March 1996, Fleming was working as usual. That night, Catherine was sitting at the bar with a glass in front of her. She seemed uneasy, and not her usual self. At 11 PM, Catherine announced that she was going to check on the washing machine, which is in a little room on the ground floor just off the hairdressing salon. There is a door from this room out into the car park. Fleming was surprised at Catherine’s newfound interest in the washing machine. She had never previously shown any interest in the washing machine, or the room in which it was kept; in fact, she didn’t even know how to use the machine. When Catherine returned some minutes later, Fleming and Liz Hudson went to the washing machine to put on another load, but were amazed to discover that the washing machine was empty and had not been used. Catherine had told them that the wash she had put on had fifteen minutes to go.
Another unexplained happening was also noted by Bernie. That night she glanced into the restaurant and saw that the curtains were pulled – the first time she had ever seen them pulled. In fact, they are for effect only, and are not meant to be pulled.
She also said that early in the day, she saw that Catherine was wearing the normal amount of jewellery: her wedding ring, a watch and maybe a necklace. Later that night, Fleming noticed that she was wearing an excessive amount of jewellery: rings on all fingers, four or five chains on her neck, and a thick gold bracelet with emerald stones set in it.
Finishing her statement, she states: ‘Tom was well aware Catherine was having affairs with a number of men. She did this openly and they would sleep in her room.’ She said she had seen Tom Kennedy in Catherine’s bedroom.
Ciara Tallon worked at the pub as a waitress during the summer of 1995. She got off to a bad start with Catherine, who reprimanded her for the dress she was wearing: it was too short. She remembers the judge calling to the pub. They were under strict orders from Catherine as to how to behave in his presence. He had his own menu, and his own seat in the conservatory.
Anne Marie Finnerty, a niece of Tom Nevin’s, called to the pub in August 1995. During a conversation, Catherine informed her: ‘We’re thinking of selling the pub, in fact it will probably be sold before Christmas.’ Tom and herself were, she stated, separating.
Una Doogue worked at the pub from March until September 1994, and again during the summer of the following year. She got to know O’Buachalla and Kennedy, who were frequent visitors. One day Catherine stated: ‘There are two ways Tom Nevin would kill himself: it would be either in the car with drink taken, or during the course of a break-in because he would have drink in him.’ Quite a prophetic statement, and one no doubt Catherine thought the Gardaí would be gullible enough to swallow.
Jane Murphy, a small, frail woman, worked as a cleaner for ten years at the pub. Of all the staff, Jane, or ‘Jeanie’, as she was commonly known, was the one who could best give an accurate account of Catherine and Tom and the happenings at the pub over the years.
About four years before the murder, she recalls Catherine and Tom having a flaming row. ‘They were going to Spain on holidays, and their passports couldn’t be found. But in truth, they could have by Tom, who had hid them because he didn’t want to go on holidays with Catherine.’ Jeanie knew where the passports were, got them, and handed them to the feuding couple. Tom wasn’t amused.
Tom’s dislike for Judge O’Buachalla was also well known to Jeanie. A few weeks before the murder, Tom told her that if the judge rang, she was to get him. True to form, he did phone, and Jeanie, being the good and loyal servant, got Tom. His choice of words and apparent anger towards the judge took her by surprise. ‘I heard Tom fucking and blinding the judge, telling him to fuck off.’
According to Jeanie, Catherine gave Jessica Hunter ‘a fierce time’ for telling the Gardaí about her various partners. She didn’t sack her because Jessica ‘will give them more fucking information’. Jessica had been interviewed and made the first of four statements on 19 March 1996.
Approximately one year before the murder, Jeanie saw another member of the staff pick up Catherine’s knickers and bra from the crib area of the pub. This was in the early morning, as they were cleaning up. A pair of gent’s underpants was found beside them. Catherine asked that morning if her knickers and bra had been found, and Jeanie told her that she had found the underpants too. Catherine didn’t seem unduly concerned, but instructed that Tom was not to be told.
Jeanie also outlined how she used to bring breakfast up to Catherine. On one such occasion in the morning, ‘I brought up tea to Catherine in the blue room, and I nearly fucking died when I saw Tom Kennedy tucked up in bed with her.’
John Ferguson regularly phoned looking for Catherine, and she would always rush to take the call. Tom and Catherine fought regularly, even up to the time of his murder. She heard Catherine offering to buy out Tom’s shares of the pub, but he was having none of it. One of Catherine’s favoured verbal attacks during their many rows was: ‘Go back to John of God’s, you old bastard.’ (Tom had been a patient in John of God’s in Dublin in relation to his drinking.)
The staff members, young and old, liked Tom Nevin, who had always been kind, considerate and understanding. They were angry at the savage manner in which Tom had been removed from the face of the earth, and anything they could do or say which might assist in righting this terrible wrong would be done by them, even if this meant putting Catherine in the frame.
Elizabeth (Liz) Hudson started work at Jack White’s in 1991, worked there for two years, and recommenced work there two and a half years later. On 18 March 1996, she finished work at 12.20 AM; the only people on the premises then were Catherine and Dominic McElligot. As she was getting into the taxi which would take her to Arklow, Tom Nevin was driving two local customers, Johnny Brennan and Frankie Whelan, home. This was a regular occurrence.
As the staff were waiting for the taxi to take them to the disco, someone mentioned about returning as usual to stay at the pub when it was over. Catherine was emphatic, and informed the girls that ‘No one is staying at the premises tonight.’ Liz told her that she had a key and would let the staff in, to which Catherine replied: ‘There’s nobody to stay here tonight, end of story.’ This was the first such occasion that the staff were refused permission to stay overnight. Earlier, Catherine had told the younger members of the staff getting ready for the disco ‘to go up the stairs in pairs and not to make any noise’; no explanation for this request was given.
Liz said that it was usual for Catherine to drink in the course of the day, especially if a person such as Sergeant McElligot was present. That night, however, apart from a drink which she left on the counter, she did not have anything to drink all day. The girls thought this most unusual, as normally she would, after close of business, sit at the counter drinking with a friend or members of the staff. Her one drink remained on the counter with a beer mat on top of it, and strict instructions were issued not to interfere with it.
Liz also said that the frequent guests at the pub included Judge O’Buachalla and Inspector Tom Kennedy. She stated that, in the summer of 1995, Judge O’Buachalla had come in one evening and started drinking with Catherine in the crib area of the pub. They were still there when she was going home. The following morning, Liz saw a lot of empty wine bottles in the crib area, where the two often drank.
Jessica Hunter was employed at the pub up to and including the date of the murder, and stayed in a room a floor above Catherine’s. She knew – as did all the other staff members – that Tom and Catherine slept in separate bedrooms. Working with and for Tom was easy and pleasant, but not so for Catherine, whom she described as moody. Catherine, she felt, was very uneasy and edgy the day of the murder, as though she knew that something was going to happen.
Reflecting back on the day of the murder, she felt that Catherine’s behaviour was unusual in the extreme and defied logic. Late in the evening, Catherine told her that she was going to check on the clothes in the washing machine. It was Jessica’s job to look after and use the machine; she knew this to be a lie, as the machine was broken and couldn’t be used.
John Ferguson was also mentioned by Jessica as phoning occasionally looking for Catherine, and especially so a month prior to the murder. On occasions, he phoned twice or three times a day. None of the staff knew who this John Ferguson was.
Catherine was applying pressure on Jessica after making statements to the Gardaí. This came to a head in May 1996, when she walked out. Catherine had intimated to some of the staff that Garda Paul Cummiskey had taken Jessica out to dinner and paid her £35 to make a statement. Catherine would repeatedly say to Jessica: ‘Paul is looking for you again to go out for a meal.’ This was another figment of Catherine’s imagination.
Elaine Butler got a job at Jack White’s Inn in June 1995. She got to know Catherine very well – in fact so well that the boss was describing to Elaine intimate details of her marriage with Tom Nevin. Tom, she declared, was an alcoholic, and she was happy that their marriage was over, and that she was no longer married to him. Elaine recalled one morning seeing a large wound on Tom Nevin’s forehead, heavily bandaged. Catherine began hassling Elaine after she had made a statement to the Guards, and she left at the end of July 1995.
Alan McGraynor worked as a chef at the pub from 1990 until 20 March 1996, the day he made a statement to the Gardaí. He was one of the longest-serving members of staff, and as such would be familiar with the everyday happenings at the pub. He worked closely with both Tom and Catherine and was trusted by both of them.
Alan would describe the marriage of the Nevins as being primarily business-orientated, with no outward signs of love or affection. He and Tom went on foreign holidays together in 1992 and 1995. He was also aware of telephone calls being received from a John Ferguson, and had no idea who he was, or the purpose of his calls. He said that the front-hallway door was usually mortise-locked. Tom, Catherine and the staff would use the lounge door when they were coming into and leaving the premises. On the night of the murder, the front door was not mortise-locked.
Perhaps the statement taken from Mrs Agnes Phelan, mother of Genesse, who worked at Jack White’s up to the date of the murder, most clearly illustrates Catherine’s criminal intent towards her husband. At 6 PM on 18 March 1996, Mrs Phelan phoned the pub and informed Catherine that her daughter was ill and unable to work that day. To her dismay, Catherine informed her that she knew about her family problems, and also that her daughter was not sick. Catherine knew that Mrs Phelan had just got back with her husband after being separated for a year, and offered her a solution to the problem: ‘You need to sort Walter [her husband] out and throw him out of the house.’ She said she was going to ‘fucking sort Tom Nevin out’. Some hours later, Tom Nevin, to use Catherine’s eloquent English, was ‘fucking sorted out’.
Tom Nevin did on occasions drink to excess, and Catherine would have everyone believe that he was a raging alcoholic. Using all her talents of persuasion, as well as her relentless taunting of Tom about him being an alcoholic, Tom ended up as a patient in St John of God’s Hospital in Stillorgan, Dublin. Matt Gallagher, a patient there during Tom’s stay, recalls Tom and his wife clearly. His account of Catherine makes interesting reading.
He described Tom as a very quiet man, and not very expressive. They became good friends and had many open and frank conversations. On Catherine’s visits, he said she treated Tom ‘like dirt or a piece of shit’. When she called – and that was seldom – it would be in relation to the business: for Tom to do the books, the VAT returns, and so on. She showed no interest in Tom or his well-being and did not get involved in the family days or the open meetings, though normal procedure dictates that the spouse of a patient should participate.
During one of their conversations, Tom told him that he was happy with the direction the business was taking, but was also convinced that Catherine was trying to get his share of the pub. He was also deeply upset with her sexual activities and was convinced that she was having an affair, stating: ‘Anybody could have her but me.’ This was in March 1993. It shows how miserable Tom had become with his lot, and that he didn’t see any possibility of his marriage ending amicably.
A number of questions had emerged as a result of the interviews with the staff. The identity of John Ferguson remained a mystery. Why was Catherine so insistent that if he phoned, she was to be contacted immediately, regardless of what time it was or what she may be doing? Why did she instruct staff that when she was on the phone to him, they should man the extension? The calls were constant, especially so for a few months prior to the murder, but ceased immediately after it. This man’s true identity had to be ascertained, as it was felt that he may have something useful to offer to the investigation.
Catherine’s deviousness had been clearly manifested, as were her cunning, temper, sexual encounters and, most of all, her obsessive determination to get Tom out of the business. These were alarming and undisputable facts, but not nearly enough to substantiate the suspicion that she had played some part in the murder of her husband.