The Murder of John Horgan: Ireland's Only Satanic Killing?

John Horgan was seven years old when he was murdered in Palmerstown, Dublin on June 14th, 1973.

He was the only child of Anne and Terry Horgan and he had just made his first communion one month before his death.

On the afternoon he disappeared, John's mother, Anne Horgan, had gone to visit her neighbour and her friend, Catherine Bale, at the Bon Secours private hospital in Glasnevin.

John had been left in the care of Anne Breslin, Anne Horgan's mother, who lived in the same house.

And Breslin last saw John in the garden at the Bale family home playing with their pet canary.

By that night, Gardaí would find John's body in the attic of the house next door.

His killer was 16-year-old Lorcan Bale, Catherine Bale's teenage son and Anne Breslin's grandson.

Bale pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment but because he was a minor he was not publicly named in court at the time and immediately after sentencing the case seemed to disappear as fast as it made headlines.

Early Irish reporting suggested that John's death was believed to be accidental His death notice described it as following an accident and the inquest was left unresolved for decades.

John Horgan, the young boy who was murdered, did not receive a death certificate until 2011.

So this week we'll take a look at the events surrounding John's murder, why it was forgotten so quickly, and what renewed public interest in the case after all those years.