Crime Story Of The Year

IN JUNE this year Catherine told how a vicious smear campaign against murder victim Jason Corbett had been completely invented by Tom Martens who, along with his daughter Molly, would eventually be convicted of the Limerick man’s killing.

Papers had been submitted to the American court ahead of the murder trial in which Tom Martens had claimed the father of Jason’s first wife Mags Fitzpatrick blamed Jason for her death.

He said Michael Fitzpatrick had told him this at Molly and Jason’s wedding in the US, as the pair scrambled to try and exonerate themselves from killing an innocent dad with two small children. Michael Fitzpatrick had sadly since passed away, but Marian Fitzpatrick gave a powerful and emotional statement to Catherine. In her exclusive interview, she revealed neither herself nor Michael had been at Jason’s second wedding in the US so the claims had been completely fabricated. ‘My husband never, ever said what has been alleged. Never. This is extremely upsetting for myself and our family but we know the truth.’ Catherine later spent four weeks covering a trial that saw Tom Corbett and Molly Martens-Corbett convicted of second-degree murder.