Nadine Lott | Last Night Out | Forensic Files

[ticking] PHOEBE LOTT: So she had rang me that day and said to me, what time do you finish your workout?
Will you throw some lashes on me before I go out? - She literally had the most infectious laugh ever.
NARRATOR: 30-year-old single mom Nadine Lott is getting ready for a festive night out.
- She was going out for her auntie's birthday. She's always loved a good night out.
- That's the way she was, a young girl having fun with her friends. - I knew that he had sent just a text, where are you?
What are you doing? - His obsession is that Nadine isn't out with her family. She's out with another man.
[dramatic music] - I really think that this was something that was festering in his mind.
[siren wailing] - We went into the kitchen. She was making gasping sounds. - You couldn't see her face.
It was like a scene out of a horror movie. [slow music] NARRATOR: Nadine lives in the small Irish seaside
town of Arklow with her young daughter. - She was a single mom. She had her own apartment.
She was doing really, really well. - Faster, faster, faster, faster. [laughter] DAVID LOTT: She followed her career in the beauty industry.
So she followed her goal and she followed her aim. So she had an idea of what she wanted to do,
and she followed it true. - Going to work for Nadine was not a job. She loved what she did.
She loved her colleagues. She absolutely adored her clients, built great relationships with them.
- As far as we were concerned, everything was rosy. [sad tune] [dramatic music] [light tune]
NARRATOR: Nadine plans a relaxing day with friends and family in the lead-up to Christmas.
Her ex of six years has agreed to babysit their daughter. 32-year-old Daniel Murtagh, an amateur
MMA fighter from Dublin, remains involved in his daughter's life. REBECCA LONG: We were all at a spa day and Nadine said to me,
everything is civil, everything has gone well. Long may it last. - Nadine actually thought that he possibly
was seeing somebody else because she said he's in good form, and I hope he is. I hope he's seeing somebody else.
NARRATOR: Murtagh had been obsessing over his ex-girlfriend, Nadine, but appears to have taken steps to stabilize his life,
outwardly showing signs of greater maturity and a renewed focus on his role as a father.
[bright tune] STEPHEN BREEN: Every weekend for him was training hard during the week and engaging in the odd mixed
martial arts fight. NARRATOR: Stephen Breen is an established Irish crime journalist.
- Nadine still included Daniel Murtagh in his daughter's life, despite their previous behavior of being quite intimidating,
but she still wanted to include him. That reflects her caring nature. [light tune]
NARRATOR: Nadine has invited Daniel to come and watch their daughter in her school nativity.
[upbeat tune] - He was coming down for the show, and she was going to her auntie's birthday party
after it. CLAIRE LOTT: I was aware that she would have to confirm to him that your relationship is
with your daughter. There is no relationship with me. NARRATOR: Murtagh would stay the night
before taking his daughter back to Dublin the next day to go Christmas shopping, not something
that had ever happened before. - They'd gone through the whole bad patch and now, he was being OK again.
NARRATOR: But unknown to Nadine and her family. Daniel Murtagh hasn't given up the dream of rekindling
the relationship. - You have to think of Murtagh's mindset, you know, what was going through his head when
he was coming down to Arklow to attend his daughter's nativity play? Again, you go back to his ego.
You go back to his sense of delusion, where he's been invited down to Arklow. Is this an opportunity for him to reconnect with Nadine?
Is this an opportunity for him to start their relationship again? [dramatic music]
- I think he was being nice because he had some sort of mad illusion that him and Nadine
were going to give it a go. - There was no doubt in any of our minds that there was nothing going on there.
DAVID LOTT: We all met in her apartment, went to the shore. Murtagh was at the shore as well.
And I always remember coming out of that shore, Nadine came out behind me, and she just said, see you later,
and that was the last time I seen her alive. NARRATOR: Nadine has just dropped her daughter
back at her apartment. [ticking] Daniel Murtagh is to babysit at her home, the first time this has happened since the couple
split six years ago. - She trusted him to look after their child while she went out with her family
to celebrate a family event. [soft tune] DAVID LOTT: Nadine was going to her auntie's 50th
birthday in the local pub. - The last night that I spent with Nadine, we came to Christy's Bar and Lounge for a meal
with my family. This is actually where we parked our cars. Nadine's car was parked here.
She came a little bit later because she was bringing the birthday cake with her.
[upbeat music] NARRATOR: The night is a mix of celebration and reflection, as Nadine's family gathers to celebrate her aunt's 50th
birthday and honor her late grandmother, who'd passed away earlier in the year. - Nadine was in great form.
She looks stunning. [upbeat music] It was sad, but happy. We were trying to celebrate for my sister, her birthday.
We were all sitting together and reflecting back, possibly mostly on my mother. DAVID LOTT: It was a very special occasion.
They'd been to the nativity play. They're going to a family birthday party. It's Christmas.
She's enjoying herself. CLAIRE LOTT: Nadine was so happy that night. I mean, she was so upbeat, making plans for Christmas.
There's nothing about her on that night. That would have said to me that I had anything
to be concerned about. [upbeat music] The 12 of us all sitting around talking at a table.
With Irish people, we all talk over each other, so there's a lot of chat. Nadine wasn't sitting right beside me.
Nadine was sitting beside my father because she took on the role, after my mother,
of supporting my father. He was saying she was his date for the night. [ticking]
- He had been calling her that night to see where she was or what time she was coming home.
[eerie music] - I knew that he had sent just a text, you know, where are you? What are you doing?
It was nothing made of that text. It wasn't a, oh, he's text, I've got to go or anything.
STEPHEN BREEN: There's clearly an element of delusion there because his obsession is that Nadine
isn't out with her family, she's out with another man. Why isn't she out with me?
She's on a date with someone else. Why isn't she home yet? And thereby undermining his ego and undermining his image.
- I said I was going to go, but I only had a baby. She's only a couple of months old at the time,
so I kind of just backed out at the end. And I still think about that. If I did go out, would it have been different?
Because I would have walked her home. I only lived two or three minutes up the road.
Would I have walked up, and would it have been different? [theme music] [lively tune]
STEPHEN BREEN: Arklow is a seaside town on the East Coast of Ireland. It's a very vibrant community.
People from all kinds of life live in Arklow. It's not far from Dublin, only an hour's drive away.
It's a popular town. People who want to live near the seaside but still work in the city.
[soft tune] CLAIRE LOTT: We go back generations. I was born here. My parents and grandparents on both sides are all Arklow.
So our family are very integrated here. [dramatic music] NARRATOR: Nadine Lott, born in 1989,
is the second of four children to David and Claire Lott. DAVID LOTT: My earliest memory of Nadine
was actually when she was born. When you looked at her, she had two big brown eyes,
and that stuck with me forever. She loved other kids being around her. People would actually look forward
to babysitting her because it would bring happiness into the room when she'd walk in, even as a child.
PHOEBE LOTT: My earliest memory was probably Christmas. Nadine got a Polaroid camera, and we took a picture.
And we're like, messy hair, pajamas on. We looked absolutely ridiculous. But I think I was only about five or six at the time,
but it sums up my and Nadine's relationship. It was always about fun and capturing memories.
Nadine always brought the fun to my childhood. [sad tune] CLAIRE LOTT: I remember Nadine as my baby,
my fun loving baby, who as she grew, became one of my best friends. NARRATOR: Young Nadine quickly develops
into an ambitious person. Her passions are fashion and beauty. She's busy. WOMAN: Nadine.
[screaming] - She knew very early on she wanted to go into makeup. She knew she wanted to be a beautician.
There was no question around. And she was one of those children who knew exactly what she wanted to do.
And she also knew exactly what she needed to do to get that. REBECCA LONG: You just felt like she
knew what she was doing. She had it all worked out. She knew what she was doing, and she knew what she wanted.
- She was very cute. She was so confident, really just sort of kind girl. - We always say that Nadine was like the to our group.
[laughter] - I was the total opposite to her. She was a social butterfly. She just brought that out in me.
She was such a genuine person that you actually really believed in every word that she said,
and you felt invincible with her. [slow tune] [bright tune] NARRATOR: Like many young people,
Nadine has dreams of adventure and opportunity. So at the age of 23, she decides to follow
her friends to Australia. [lively tune] - I remember like yesterday, the day she was leaving.
She had worked extremely hard to get this money to go to Australia. She did it all herself.
She didn't want support to do that. STEPHEN BREEN: Like many of her friends and indeed across many towns across Ireland,
people went to Australia for a better life, for adventure, and just to experience something different.
[upbeat tune] NARRATOR: After arriving in Perth, Nadine plans to take a short trip to Darwin,
but whilst there, her plans suddenly change. - I was going to Perth as well, but
I thought Nadine was going to be in Perth as well, but she hadn't come back down from Darwin
because she'd met Dan. NARRATOR: Nadine has met Daniel Murtagh, a 26-year-old from Dublin and an amateur
mixed martial arts enthusiast. He's been working as a laborer in Australia for the previous 18 months.
- Murtagh was someone who was very athletic. He was very focused on his image, but he was also very charming as well.
I think she was living in a world that was like paradise. And they had a good relationship in Australia,
so life would have been looking good for her over there. KAREN FORD: It was all fun, and it was literally
like the holiday romance. I was like, what's he like? She was like, oh, yeah, he's really fun, really fun,
but not someone that you'd bring home to your mom, you know? NARRATOR: But Nadine is unaware of Daniel Murtagh's troubling
reputation back in Dublin. - Growing up, Daniel Murtagh was a bit of a loner, acted as a bit of a bully,
was involved in numerous fights, but they were always kids who were a lot younger
and a lot smaller than he was. But as he grew older, he became fascinated by martial arts,
was all about looking after himself and training hard during the week and engaging in the odd mixed martial arts fight.
He needed someone like Nadine, who was a beautiful young woman. People saw Nadine as a trophy to him,
where it wasn't just about him and her having this loving relationship, it was about him having
someone that fitted his image. NARRATOR: But the holiday romance is about to be tested.
After just nine months in Australia, Nadine makes a discovery. She's pregnant. [dramatic music]
- So she had phoned me, and she was like, oh, my god, oh, my god, you're not going to believe it,
I'm pregnant. And I was like, OK, well, you need to tell mom. - I just knew. I just knew.
I had that deep feeling. I knew what she was going to tell me. So when she said it to me, it wasn't a shock.
[eerie music] - Nadine come home almost immediately after finding out that she was pregnant.
All we wanted to do was get her home and give her a hug and say, everything will be all right,
and we loved her even more because she was pregnant. - There was absolutely never a doubt she wanted her baby,
and that was it. NARRATOR: However, instead of returning to Ireland with his pregnant girlfriend, Daniel Murtagh decides
to stay behind in Australia. - I think that shows his narcissism and how selfish he was because even then, his focus was
on staying in Australia, rather than returning to Ireland straight away. NARRATOR: In November 2013, Nadine
gives birth to a baby girl. - She was so natural with it. She absolutely adored her.
She loved that all the family made such a fuss and how much we all loved her. - Took to motherhood like a duck to water.
It was natural for her. [bright music] NARRATOR: Daniel Murtagh has, by now, returned to Ireland
from Australia to be reunited with Nadine and the couple's daughter. - For her, the most important thing
was providing a strong family network for her child, and part of that family network included having the child's
father in her life. So Nadine was determined to make this work. - They moved in here.
And he was always talking about the next big job he was going to have. He always had the next business venture in mind,
but none of it ever, ever materialized. [light tune] NARRATOR: After a few months of finding their feet,
the young couple move in together in an apartment in Arklow's Marina District. But Nadine's friends are starting to have
doubts about Daniel Murtagh. TIFFANY SNELL: He wasn't consistently there like a father should be.
He didn't want the whole family side of life. He just wanted her. And he didn't want the responsibilities that came
with having a family either. - He was all into his gym and his MMA fighting. He did come across kind of like, you look at me,
I have the muscles, and look at the girl that I've got that he did not deserve. NARRATOR: And it isn't long before Nadine
realizes she's made a mistake. PHOEBE LOTT: They were probably in that apartment a few weeks,
and Nadine decided, no, it wasn't working. - He moved out, and she was much happier.
But she always wanted her daughter to know who her father was and have a relationship,
and that was very important to her. So she maintained a relationship through contact.
NARRATOR: Daniel Murtagh moves back to his family home in Dublin, but he keeps tabs on Nadine's whereabouts.
TIFFANY SNELL: He definitely had somebody down here who was able to tell him what Nadine was doing.
- He would send her text messages and say, and what were you doing with this person or in this place?
- He knew what she was doing. - Or who she was seeing. - Yeah. [dramatic music] CLAIRE LOTT: She was single.
It was completely within her rights to do that if she wanted to. And the next morning, she got abusive texts about,
who had she been out with? STEPHEN BREEN: He had this delusion that perhaps one day they could get back together and
be a family again. Murtagh was on the outside looking in. He could clearly see that she was going places.
He could clearly see that she had a future, and he couldn't cope with that because of his ego,
because everything about him was all focused on what he could get out of this relationship.
[slow music] NARRATOR: Nadine Lott, now living in her own home in Arklow, Ireland,
has just begun a new job as a beautician at a well-known Dublin beauty salon. [soft tune]
REBECCA LONG: She wanted to be in the beauty industry. She followed that dream. Any problems along the way, Nadine would think about them,
find a solution for them, and tackle them straight ahead. JULIAN DALBY: She had a certain vibrancy about her.
She wasn't just looking for a job. She was looking to become a part of something.
- She loved it. She's always had the passion for beauty, and I think this was like an extra step.
NARRATOR: Nadine's ex, Daniel Murtagh, continues to care for their daughter every other weekend
and becomes increasingly aware of Nadine's newfound success and financial stability.
[eerie music] - I think he was jealous of Nadine and how successful she was in her career
and how she was getting on with her life, and she had a lovely little life for herself.
[eerie music] NARRATOR: Nadine, raised in a close, loving family, dreams of the same for her own daughter.
Since their child's birth, Daniel Murtagh has remained part of their lives, quietly holding on to the hope of one
day reuniting with Nadine. Eventually, Murtagh suggests a fresh start. - We always just thought that he just wanted
to have Nadine for himself. She was gorgeous. I'd say he was kicking himself that he ever let her go.
PHOEBE LOTT: I think she always wanted a perfect family, so she always wanted her daughter
to have a relationship with her father. NARRATOR: Three years after they first separated,
Nadine decides to give the relationship with Daniel Murtagh another chance and begins looking for an appropriate house
for the family to move into. - As a best friend, you support them, no matter what,
and you stick by them even though you know you're going to be picking up the pieces again.
- He wasn't mature. He wasn't extremely bright. But there must be something there
that would make him eventually want to be a dad to this absolutely amazing child.
NARRATOR: Having signed the contract to rent a family home, Nadine has high expectations for her family's future.
- Everything was done. They were due to move in on, I think it was the Monday. [suspicious tune]
- The day that they were supposed to move into the house, nobody could locate them.
It was my 21st, so it a big moment in my life. And I remember blowing out my candles
and Nadine run and cried. - And it was a couple of days later that she made contact with him, but
he made it very clear that he didn't want this. He didn't want to move in together
and to make that commitment. TIFFANY SNELL: When it came to the crunch, he ran. She just tried over and over again
for her family to make a go of it, but that was the last straw. PHOEBE LOTT: She had told everyone
about the excitement of her moving into this house with her daughter and getting this family unit, and she was embarrassed.
She was absolutely done after that. She was quick to let him know that there was nothing ever
going to happen ever again. [dramatic music] NARRATOR: Despite Nadine making it clear to Daniel
that any possibility of them rekindling their relationship has now disappeared, he again begins
to keep a close eye on Nadine and any possible new relationships he suspects she's involved in.
- She was trying to make it clear that she did not want him, and there was never going
to be a relationship there again, so he was just convinced if she doesn't want me,
she must have somebody else. But at that time, she actually didn't have anybody else.
STEPHEN BREEN: We could clearly see glimpses of his behavior and his disdain for Nadine, and that included
him sending text messages. I know who he is. I know where you are. I know where you're going.
[dramatic music] KAREN FORD: She never gave him that reaction that he's looking for.
He'd be trying to get her riled up, and she was like, I'm not going to reply to that.
She wouldn't reply. She's say, look at these messages, not replying. - So she didn't know what way she
could stop it from happening. She never thought about going further and reporting because I don't think she thought there
was any seriousness in it. [dramatic music] STEPHEN BREEN: Although there was no sign of any violence
during their relationship when they were together, this is a precursor, perhaps, to what he did do eventually,
and it showed his intent. [wins whistling] - The relationship that they had was just because of her daughter.
That was all it was. - This showed her caring nature because he was the father of their child.
[dramatic music] KAREN FORD: She said to me, I remember, I couldn't give him an inkling that we would ever
be a chance of us getting back together because we're finally co-parents and quite well now.
[dramatic music] [ticking] [dramatic music] CLAIRE LOTT: Absolutely no way would
Nadine have allowed him to be with her daughter if she knew or suspected he was going to be drinking.
That wouldn't have happened. There would have been alternative plans made. [dramatic music]
So we finished our meal. I didn't want to stay on. I wanted to go home. I was driving.
So I brought my father in that home. Nadine had said she was going to stay and have a drink with a friend of mine and her husband.
And when I got home, it was raining. So I texted Nadine and said, Nadine, it doesn't matter what time, if you need a lift home, call me,
and I'll bring you home. And I never got an answer. [light tune] [crowd chatter]
DAVE BOYLAN: Nadine asked, could anyone phone a taxi? And I phoned a taxi. So a local chap.
[ticking] NARRATOR: Nadine arrives home to the smell of cannabis and to Daniel Murtagh, who's been drinking heavily.
- At the end of the night, Nadine comes home to be with her daughter. NARRATOR: Shortly after Nadine returns home,
a neighbor reports the sounds of a disturbance. [eerie music] - The negative feelings had reached boiling point,
and he was of the mindset that, I am going to stop her from having a good life. I am going to stop her from having a relationship
with someone else. His mindset was, if I can't have her, then no one can, and that's when
he launched this ferocious attack against her. NARRATOR: Daniel Murtagh, trained in mixed martial arts,
unleashes a brutal and sustained assault. - Murtagh would have known full well how Nadine
took care of herself, how her image is very important to her when he inflicted this damage upon her.
He was used to using his fists. He was so violent and so sustained that he continued that attack to make sure
that when he left Nadine lying there, no one would know who she was or she would be unrecognizable to those who loved her.
[dramatic music] JULIAN DALBY: What was going to hurt her most was to disfigure her.
This was something that would really cause her the most pain, was to change her look.
So there did appear to be an element of vindictiveness, like it was being focused on changing her appearance,
the thing that mattered so much to her. [ticking] NARRATOR: The neighbor, a former classmate of her younger
sister, Phoebe, is concerned enough to raise the alarm and contacts both the Gardai and
Nadine's family. - She had basically rang to say that Dan had stabbed Nadine, and we needed to come quick.
I remember getting up, just darting down to mom's room. - We were asleep and Phoebe came running down
the hall and said, Mommy, quick, get up, we've to go to Nadine's. - I remember us all jumping into the car, what seemed
like a two-second drive. [dramatic music] - That's when Murtagh fled the scene and got to his car
and tried to travel back to Dublin. [ticking] NARRATOR: First, Nadine's mother, brother, and sister arrive.
It's a chaotic scene. - We were just running around the apartment, trying to find her.
We went into the kitchen. She was in the corner, just thrown in the corner. There was blood absolutely everywhere.
She was making gasping sounds. - You couldn't see her face. But I kept telling her that you're OK.
I'm here. Your baby's OK. Your baby's fine. Don't worry now. Everything's going to be OK.
[dramatic music] I remember my instinct to save my daughter kicking in. I'm doing what I need to do until the experts get here
and save her. [distant siren] NARRATOR: Nadine is taken to hospital by paramedics.
DAVID LOTT: 64 injuries to her body. He beat her to a pulp. - There wasn't practically a bone anywhere in Nadine's body
that wasn't broken. Nadine was beautiful. He did destroy her face. It's obviously where he really, really focused
whatever was inside him. [dramatic music] NARRATOR: Murtagh meanwhile, has fled, attempting to escape in his car
over the Wicklow Mountains. - So Murtagh is trying to flee the scene, trying to escape justice by leaving Arklow
and heading back to his native Dublin. But he's going over the mountains. He's not going on the motorway.
He's thinking that, I can avoid any police checkpoints or any Gardai checkpoints.
- What could instigate that in any human being to do it to anybody? Never mind the mother of your child.
[upbeat music] NARRATOR: 34-year-old Daniel Murtagh has just brutally attacked his ex-girlfriend, Nadine Lott.
She has sustained multiple broken bones and a stab wound to the neck. Murtagh has also mutilated her face
before leaving her for dead. But whilst on the run over the Wicklow Mountains, Murtagh crashes his car.
- He crashes the car, and the first things he says to the members of the Gardai who came upon this accident were, I've just killed my wife,
and then this is followed by, I've just killed my girlfriend. It got the investigators thinking as well.
This is the individual we're looking for. It automatically gets the alarm bells ringing,
and so he will be brought in for questioning. NARRATOR: Nadine Lott, meanwhile, has made it to hospital.
She's still alive and being treated for her injuries. - Numerous, numerous, numerous injuries.
She was unrecognizable. She needed over 20, if not more, blood transfusions. - They were trying to get all the details
of what had actually happened, how bad was it? TIFFANY SNELL: Phoebe could hardly talk.
So I just said, look, go. Do whatever you need. Just keep us updated. - We all just lost it, I think.
We drove home in silence. We drove straight to the church. What else can you do?
You don't know what to do in those situations. I don't how we ended up in the church, but we did.
[soft music] The four of us sat there and this lady came over to us, said, are yous in here for your friend?
Because the whole time, I knew about it. And she gave us these little medals, and she said,
yous will be OK. Yous will be OK. [soft humming] NARRATOR: Nadine's friends organize a vigil,
bringing the community together, lighting candles, and praying for her survival.
[soft humming] - I was made aware that there was a vigil. [soft humming] At the time, you're just thinking, OK, all of this
just has to work. [soft humming] - I don't even think an animal would do as bad to what
he had left her like. It was absolutely horrific. Nothing could spark that. - How he could do the damage that he did
is just unfathomable. It's not human. A monster, creature. I said it's just pure evil.
- They operated, but they just could not do anything to save her life. She was beaten so badly.
[sad music] And Nadine lived until the Tuesday at 3 o'clock. - The nurse let us know when she had slipped away.
[sad tune] And since I had formally identified her, they take her away, straight away.
Her body now becomes evidence. [eerie tune] [dramatic music] STEPHEN BREEN: It was a harrowing court
case, Murtagh adding more trauma and pain to Nadine's family. PHOEBE LOTT: Horrific to have to sit-in 2 feet of him.
He was basically sitting beside us. STEPHEN BREEN: During the court case, he would often smirk at the gallery.
He didn't have many supporters in the gallery, unlike Nadine, who had her family, her friends there.
DAVID LOTT: Totally unbelievable for him to put us through a trial, where we had to relive and
be retraumatized for the sake of him trying to get a lenient sentence. NARRATOR: Murtagh's defense team
argues that his actions amount to manslaughter rather than murder. Claiming that Nadine was still his girlfriend,
Murtagh's legal team presents his attack as a moment of diminished responsibility in a case
of domestic violence. - There was no relationship. They were not living together.
The only thing they had done together was have a child and were together for a very short period of time.
STEPHEN BREEN: He is trying to insist that he was drunk, he was high, you know, he didn't intend to kill her.
But due to the level of violence, it was quite evident that he intended to kill Nadine.
This was a premeditated murder because he couldn't be with her. DAVID LOTT: I think it just shows
the character of the perpetrator and what sort of individual he was. Shows his disdain for Nadine.
Shows his disdain for our family. It shows the type of character he is. [slow music]
NARRATOR: At the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Daniel Murtagh is sentenced to prison.
- The jury gave a unanimous verdict, and as each of them were walking out, acknowledged me.
They all nodded. NARRATOR: Nadine's family is now campaigning to change the law to increase
the length of sentences in cases like this. - Like, what's life? What does that mean?
He's got the maximum? He's got the minimum? What does this mean? And then you find out exactly what it means,
and life isn't life in this country, and there are no degrees of homicide in this country.
STEPHEN BREEN: Anyone convicted of murder could only apply for parole after 12 years.
But that's still something that Nadine's family will have to contend, where they will
have to make their resolutions and make their submissions as to why he shouldn't be freed.
He gets to see those submissions, but they don't get to see his. So that's one area of the law where many victims'
families have concerns about. But he has received a life sentence now, so it will be a long time before he's
released from prison. But again, in 12 years' time, he can still apply for parole
and, therefore, cause more trauma to the family. PHOEBE LOTT: I don't think I have any feelings towards him
because I just don't even waste a second of my day giving him a thought. He's a waste of space, and he's a waste of time,
so I don't waste my time. - You can't come to terms with something so horrific. But we don't have closure.
He took so much away from us. [slow music] - Turnout for Nadine's funeral was absolutely amazing.
That was a great solace in itself, to see so many people there. The community was a great source of inspiration.
[sad tune] - Sometimes, it's harder than others to come up because she shouldn't be here.
She was only 30. I still sit here in disbelief when I see her name on the grave.
It just doesn't make any sense. It's just unbelievable and unbearable. [slow tune]
- She was taken from everybody. Her love for life is something that I try to live by because she helped me so much.
How one person can be a best friend to everybody is just a massive uniqueness as well.
- She lived life to the fullest. She was just always so happy and positive. KAREN FORD: A really great friend.
We miss her so much. PHOEBE LOTT: Everyone needs to remember and see Nadine for who she was, not what happened to her.
When anyone sees her photos, it's always smiling, laughing. She was such a fun person.
CLAIRE LOTT: She's in every single conversation we have. She's part of our family, and that's it.
We talk about her, what she would have thought, what she would have done. And I want her remembered for the caring, loving,
beautiful person that she was. DAVID LOTT: I'd like her to be remembered as a genuine, loving, caring, sensitive person.
She was beautiful, both inside and out. [sad tune] CLAIRE LOTT: As a parent, you are
there to protect your child. [soft tune] I can hear my child's screamings. I can hear her cries.
So it's living with those nightmares, with those flashbacks, your sleepless nights, your anxieties, and just the emptiness.
Unlike somebody who passes from an illness, where you get that time to spend with them and say goodbye,
we never got to say goodbye to Nadine. [laughter] Was there something different you
should have done on that night, you could have done on that night? That's what life is now.
You live your life on what-ifs. [sad tune] NARRATOR: In 2021, Daniel Murtagh is finally imprisoned for his brutal attack
in Arklow, in which he condemned Nadine Lott, a loving mother, daughter, sister, and
friend to her last night out. [soft tune] [theme music]

After a night out, Nadine returns home to a jealous ex who brutally attacks her.

Brief Summary

Nadine Lott, a single mother, was brutally attacked by her ex-boyfriend, Daniel Murtagh, leading to her tragic death.

Key points

Nadine's Festive Night Out. Nadine Lott prepares for her aunt's birthday, excited for a night with friends.
A Troubling Obsession. Daniel Murtagh's jealousy over Nadine's happiness begins to surface.
A Shocking Discovery. Nadine discovers she's pregnant, leading to significant life changes.
The Last Straw. Nadine's hopes for a family with Daniel crumble when he refuses to commit.
A Dangerous Delusion. Daniel's fixation on Nadine intensifies, leading to troubling behavior.
Murtagh's Brutal Attack. Daniel Murtagh unleashes a ferocious assault on Nadine, leaving her unrecognizable.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

Describing the shocking moment in the kitchen.

1:15WatchAug 1, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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