Notorious rapist Larry Murphy is not in Galway

Claims of sightings of convicted rapist Larry Murphy around Galway over the past week have been dismissed as “completely unfounded”.

Numerous sightings have been reported as fact on social media over the past week, as well as alleged incidents – including a claim that a woman was grabbed in the city when she made her way to work.

However, a Garda source told the Connacht Tribune that Murphy is not in Galway and is not behind a number of alleged incidents which were reported on social media, yet no reports were made to Gardaí.

“There is absolutely no truth to these stories. The sightings are completely unfounded. These posts on Facebook and other social media do nothing but cause undue panic,” the source said.

One ‘story’ went viral last weekend when a local voluntary group posted on their Facebook page that “this horrible creature has been reported sighted lurking in the dark corners of Spanish Arch and Claddagh”, along with a picture of Murphy.

The post by Galway Waterways Patrol was deleted the following day and the group subsequently stated they had been assured by Gardaí that it was not Larry Murphy. However, the initial post had been ‘liked’ and shared thousands of times by other Facebook users.

On Saturday, the GAA County Children’s Officer sent an alert out to all club secretaries urging “caution and vigilance” about the posts on social media.

The email referred to a child being approached at the Oranmore GAA grounds “in an appropriate manner” and the culprit was well-known to Gardaí and had served prison time for serious offences.

The Connacht Tribune understands that following Garda enquiries, the child’s parents are not making a formal complaint about an incident which involved a teenager, and “absolutely nothing to do with” Larry Murphy.

A faked screenshot purporting to be a news story from the Galway Bay fm website was also shared widely over the weekend on social media.

Meanwhile, a separate post by a lady on Facebook last week – again shared thousands of times – claimed she was approached on Henry Street in the city by a man who tried to grab her.

She claims he asked for directions, before asking her “do you remember Manuela that girl who got hooked?” before trying to grab her. She said she ran into a local shop for safety.

Gardaí have had no report of any such incident, and following enquiries from the Connacht Tribune, the woman in question deleted the post from her Facebook page. The shop-owner – who was on duty that day – said he had no recollection of anybody coming into the shop in a distressed state.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune