Woman gets six-year sentence for helping dump man's body in Wexford quarry

Eoin Reynolds

A woman who helped to dump a man's body in a quarry "like a piece of rubbish" and later went on social media to express concern for his well-being has been jailed for six years.

Justice Kerida Naidoo at the Central Criminal Court on Monday said the defendant, Jane Corcoran (34), lied to gardaí about the circumstances surrounding the death and disappearance of Stephen Ring in 2024.

She falsely accused another man of having assaulted Ring and wasted garda time and resources that should have been used in the search for the deceased.

His body remained in the Carrigfoyle Quarry for 13 days before being discovered by two children who were out fishing. It was decomposed and had been fed on by fish.

The judge said Corcoran lacks insight into her offending and has engaged in a "degree of victim blaming" by suggesting to probation officers that Stephen Ring was responsible for what happened to him.

Corcoran has told probation officers that she and another man had been looking for Ring to repay a €900 drug debt, the judge said.

Ring's last recorded movement was when he arrived at Corcoran's home at about 2am on October 15th, 2024.

Less than two hours later, Corcoran was caught on CCTV reversing her car to her front door and helping to move Ring's remains, wrapped in a blanket, to the boot of her car. She then drove to the quarry where the remains were "dumped" in the water.

A probation officer who has worked with Corcoran since she went into custody in 2024 has found that she appears emotionally detached from the offence and has a limited capacity to explore how she could have acted differently. She is considered at a high risk of reoffending within the next 12 months.

Justice Naidoo also noted the impact on the family of Ring.

At a previous hearing, the deceased's mother Linda Ring said she and her family are traumatised by how her son was dumped in a quarry "like a piece of rubbish". She described Corcoran as "pure evil" and said she hopes she will "never find a day's peace".

The judge said Corcoran knew she was increasing the stress and anguish on the Ring family by participating in the disposal of the body and by deliberately misleading gardaí.

The judge said the family has been left with "deep and abiding emotional scars" from the emotional impact of not knowing where Ring was for 13 days, and the condition of the body after such a length of time in water.

Justice Naidoo set a headline sentence of nine years which he reduced to six years and nine months after considering mitigation, the most significant aspect of which was her guilty plea.

Justice Naidoo also noted that Corcoran had apologised to the Ring family but said her false expressions of concern for the deceased on social media are "difficult to reconcile with her expressions of remorse".

He said the lack of remorse and the victim blaming noted by probation officers meant the value of her plea was "less than it might be".

Justice Naidoo suspended the final nine months of the sentence for two years, on conditions, including that she comply with all lawful directions of the probation services. He said he hopes she can gain real insight into her offending.

In her impact statement delivered in December last year, Linda Ring said her family has been "devastated" by the way in which her "witty and generous" son was taken from them.

For almost two weeks while he was missing, she said she lived with the dread of what might have happened and the hope that he might come home.

She said: "During those two weeks the defendant knew where my son was, that he was not coming home to us, that he had been killed."

While the deceased's body lay in Carrigfoyle Quarry, "dumped like a piece of rubbish," Corcoran posted on Facebook saying she hoped he would return home safely to his family. Ring said: "As a mother herself, she cannot justify her actions to me, this court or her own children. She is pure evil."

She added: "I pray she will never find a day’s peace and for the rest of her days she will see my son’s face and be haunted by what she did."

Corcoran, with an address at Pairc na Dara, Clonard, Co Wexford, previously pleaded guilty to impeding the apprehension or prosecution of another individual, knowing or believing that person to have committed murder or another arrestable offence, by assisting in moving the remains of Stephen Ring from her home.

She also pleaded guilty to assisting the offender by telling falsehoods to gardaí.

At the earlier hearing, Detective Inspector Padhraic Roberts told prosecution counsel Sinead Gleeson that Linda Ring reported her son missing on October 17th, 2024.

10 days into their investigation, gardaí came to believe that Ring was dead and focussed their efforts on the Carrigfoyle Quarry.

On October 27th, before gardaí could find him, two children who were out fishing 'saw an image' in the water, which turned out to be Ring's remains, the detective said.

State Pathologist Dr SallyAnne Collis examined the body at Waterford University Hospital and noted damage to the skin consistent with having been immersed in water. The remains were partially decomposed and some of the tissue had been eaten by fish.

Ring's hands had been bound behind his back using half a tea towel and gardaí discovered the other half of the tea towel in a washing machine in Corcoran's home.

The pathologist found the cause of death was application of external pressure to the neck, believed to be due to a choke hold, the detective said.

Det Gda Roberts said gardaí spoke to Jane Corcoran on October 17th, the day Ring was reported missing, and twice more over the following 10 days. She told gardaí a number of inaccurate "stories", the detective said.

During that time, Corcoran put up social media posts apparently showing concern for the missing man and also searched online for "bodies found in Wexford" and "countries with no extradition".

Gardaí discovered that prior to Ring's disappearance, Corcoran contacted other people looking for him. There was a suggestion that Ring owed money for drugs, the detective said.

After Ring's remains were discovered, Corcoran was arrested and interviewed but she told gardaí "a number of stories contrived to distance herself from the death of Stephen Ring," the detective said.

She claimed that Ring had arrived at her home already injured and that she had tended to his wounds. She named a man who she claimed had caused Ring's injuries.

Gardaí wasted hours trying to corroborate her statements, the detective said.