Overview
- On April 14, 1984, the five-day-old boy known as Baby John was found on White Strand beach in County Kerry with 28 stab wounds and a broken neck.
- Gardaí initially focused on Joanne Hayes, who signed confessions later retracted as coerced, leading to charges that collapsed and a widely condemned public tribunal.
- DNA testing in 2018 established that Hayes was not Baby John’s mother, prompting an official state apology.
- Hayes and her family received €2.5 million in compensation for the mishandled investigation.
- In 2023, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s were arrested in the case and later released without charge, and police continue to appeal for information.