Catherine Nevin (; 1 October 1950 – 19 February 2018) was an Irish woman who was convicted in 2000 of murdering her husband Tom Nevin at Jack White's Inn, a pub owned by the couple in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. The jury in her trial also found her guilty on three charges of soliciting others to kill him after five days of

deliberation Deliberation is a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting. Deliberation emphasizes the use of logic and reason as opposed to power-struggle, creativity, or dialogue. Group decisions are generally made after deliberation ...

, then the longest period of deliberation in the history of the

Irish State Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

. She was subsequently dubbed the ''Black Widow'' by the press. Nevin was the subject of significant coverage by the tabloid press and Justice Mella Carroll ordered a ban on the press commenting on Nevin's appearance or demeanour during the trial.

Early life

Catherine Scully met Tom Nevin in Dublin in 1970 and they were married in Rome in 1976. Within ten years, they owned two houses and managed a pub in Finglas, Dublin. In 1986, they opened Jack White's Inn.

Murder of Tom Nevin

On 19 March 1996, Tom Nevin was killed with a shot from a nine pellet

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

while counting the day's takings in Jack White's pub near Brittas Bay in County Wicklow. According to Catherine Nevin, she was woken by someone pressing her face into a pillow. She said: "It was a man shouting: 'f**king jewellery, f**king kill ya'. He had a knife in his left hand. Everything in the room was coming down around." IR£13,000 was taken from the pub, and the Nevins' car was stolen and was found abandoned in Dublin.

Prison life

Nevin served her sentence at the Dóchas Centre, Dublin. She lost an appeal in 2003, and in 2010 also lost an application to have her conviction declared a miscarriage of justice. Nevin in 2016 was diagnosed with a

brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...

and given only months to live by doctors at the Mater Hospital. She received compassionate release in late 2017 and died on 19 February 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevin, Catherine Irish female murderers 2018 deaths 1950 births People from County Wicklow Deaths from brain tumor Mariticides