The Garda Commissioner has ordered a review into the investigation carried out on Kelly Lynch's death in Monaghan earlier this year. The body of Ms Lynch was recovered from the Ulster Canal in Monaghan Town on St Patrick's Day. Kelly's mother, Julieanne, has welcomed the Commissioner's decision as "a positive development". Her family has always said they were unhappy with the garda investigation into the 23-year-old's death and wanted officers to treat her untimely death as "suspicious".
Drew Harris and the Chief Superintendent of the Louth-Cavan-Monaghan Division, Alan McGovern, met with Kelly's family on Monday. A garda statement said after that meeting "Commissioner Harris has directed that a Senior Investigating Officer from a Division external to the Louth-Cavan-Monaghan Division to conduct a peer review of the investigation into the death of Ms Lynch."
A peer review is not a re-opening of the case. It is an examination of the original investigation to identify if there any potential additional lines of enquiry. Kelly's grieving mother has been campaigning for this progress since her daughter's death and says she finally feels listened to now:
