FORTY years ago, the discovery of a baby’s remains on a beach in County Kerry set off a series of shocking twists.
Since then the tragic Kerry Babies case has left a lot of unsolved questions, and mystery around what really happened.
The body of newborn baby was found lying on rocks at White Strand beach in County Kerry, Ireland. on April 14, 1984.
The unknown baby had visible stab wounds, and had been knifed 28 times.
The child, who was found by farmer Jack Griffin, became known as Baby John, as their identity was a mystery.
There was no trace of the tragic tot’s parents or any indication of where they are from.
Neither the parents nor the killer of Baby John have been found.
The case was re-opened in 2018 and hundreds of people were interviewed – however it still remains unsolved.
Shortly after Baby John was found on the beach in 1984, the Irish authorities turned their attention to a woman named Joanne Hayes who lived in north Kerry.
Ms Hayes had been admitted to hospital on the same day as the baby had been found dead on the beach, and was found to have given birth to a baby.
She was arrested and she and her family confessed to the murder of the baby found in Caherciveen.
However, they later withdrew their confessions and admitted that Ms Hayes’s baby was born on the family farm in Abbeydorney where it was buried in secret.
Ms Hayes had had a stillbirth and Ms Hayes, who was a single mum to a daughter, had been having an affair with a married man when she became pregnant.
Blood testing at the time revealed that Ms Hayes and her boyfriend Jeremiad, did not share a blood type with Baby John.
The Irish police force apologised to Hayes in 2018, after DNA conclusively proved she was not Baby John’s mother, 34 years after she was wrongly accused.
Superintendent Flor Murphy said at the time: “On behalf of An Garda Siochana, I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for [the police conduct], as well as the awful stress and pain she has been put through as a result of the original investigation into this matter, which fell well short of the required standards.
“The Tribunal headed by Mr Justice Kevin Lynch into that investigation rightly criticised many aspects of that investigation. For those failings, I apologise.
“It is accepted that the original investigation fell short of what was required and expected of a professional police service, but I want to reassure the public that this will be a thorough and professional investigation.
“While this investigation team cannot change what happened in the past, we can help find the answers into what happened to Baby John and are determined to do so.
“We have a duty and professional responsibility to investigate. We must establish the full circumstances surrounding the death of this child.
“Ireland was a different place in 1984. It was a different society with different societal pressures.
“We would hope that in the Ireland of 2018 that people will be more prepared to come forward.”
In March 2023, a couple in their 50s were arrested, and later released without charge.
Since the events of 1984, Joanne Hayes has stayed out of the public eye.
She received €2.5M (£2M) in damages in 2022 over her wrongful arrest.
In 1985, Hayes published a short book, called My Story.
The case of the Kerry Babies is examined in a Channel 4 documentary.
Called Murdered: The Baby on the Beach, you can watch the series on the broadcaster’s streaming site.
There are three episodes, which look at the details of what happened, and they each last an hour long.
