Poorly lit laneway may have been a short cut to tragedy

"WE SAID it all along. When someone's murdered maybe they'll do something." Linda lives near a laneway just yards from where Marilyn Rynn's body was found down in the Tolka valley outside Blanchardstown village.

The laneway, poorly lit at night, is a short cut into the local housing estates. It saves at least 15 minutes' walk around by the better lit main road, but is a risky route after dark, and it is an escape route for burglars.

The lane at Greenridge Court is beside a slope down into the valley and just yards from where Ms Rynn's unclothed body was found face down by Ben the Garda German shepherd dog. Her clothes were in a bundle just a few feet away from her and a couple of yards from where the winding Tolka river flows through the valley.

Much of the area was cordoned off by gardai but Linda described the scenery as "incredible. It's like Vietnam down there. There's a hill going straight down and bushes upon bushes. They have old armchairs and clothes and dens down there - all the young fellows from the area. They drink down there. There are cans everywhere and it would be impossible to find someone if they ran down there."

Paula Waters lives just a little further up the road from where the tragic discovery was made "I'm shocked and I'm horrified It is very sad, but I'm not surprised that it happened." Paula and Linda have been part of a now defunct campaign to get the laneway at the end of their road fenced off.

The lane is less than half a mile from Ms Rynn's home in Brookhaven Drive. It is part of what seems like a warren of laneways and tunnels in the Tolka valley out from the village and beside the large housing estates.

"It's a stupid thing to do, I know, but we've all taken risks and used that laneway late at night. I'm jumping to conclusions but maybe that poor woman did, too," Paula said.

She believes now that people will be prepared to take the longer route home. "It is too late for that woman," she said, "but maybe the council will do something now to fence it off".

There have been muggings in the laneway, one as early as 7.30 in the morning. About a year ago there were incidents with a "flasher" in the area. Young lads drink down in the valley nearby "and the noise they make at night is terrifying".

Bags of syringes have been found, clothes have been stolen from back garden clothes lines and used to make tents near the lane and down in the valley.

Ms Rynn's body was discovered yesterday shortly after 9 a.m. in a planned search by gardai. Yesterday afternoon gardai were treating the death as "suspicious" and all the indications were that she suffered a sexual attack.

As the area remained cordoned off yesterday afternoon, local people stood at either end of the laneway watching as the Chief State pathologist, Dr John Harbison, arrived to examine the body. Just over an hour later an ambulance arrived to take Ms Rynn's body to the nearby James Connolly Memorial Hospital.