The prime suspect who ordered the killing of Irene White almost 15 years ago is likely to face murder charges in 2020 following the convictions of the two men who carried it out on his behalf.

The Irish Independent understands that gardaí in Dundalk are in the final stages of compiling an investigation file for the DPP.

It will recommend that the suspect be charged with soliciting the two men to carry out the murder of Ms White at her home in April 2005.

She was stabbed 34 times by Anthony Lambe (37) when she answered the front door at the Ice House, Demesne Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, on April 6, 2005.

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Her body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor by her elderly mother.

Lambe from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, was jailed for life in January 2018 after pleading guilty to committing the murder at the behest of Niall Power (47), from Riverstown, Dundalk, who was described as a “close family friend” of the victim.

In July of this year Power, who had been one of the original suspects along with the ‘mastermind’, was also jailed for life after pleading guilty to soliciting Lambe to carry out the murder and paying him later that day.

Lambe was a history student at the time and was working part-time as a security guard for Power in Dundalk. He went to live in Australia for a number of years after the incident.

Sources say Power and Lambe, who have both expressed remorse for what they did, are likely to testify against the ‘mastermind’ in a trial.

Other witnesses who came forward with information at the time will also now be called to give their evidence at a trial as the net closes around the prime suspect.

Within hours of the alarm being raised, detectives in Dundalk had arrived at a motive for the horrific crime which we cannot report for legal reasons.

Witnesses told how the prime suspect in the case had threatened Ms White that she “wouldn’t know the day or the hour that she would be done” and that he would have an alibi when it did happen.

Three weeks before her horrific death the victim had also confided to a friend that she was living in fear of the prime suspect and described having an “eerie feeling that someone was watching her”.

Gardaí established that on the day of the murder, Power had driven his van past Ms White’s home at 11.48am – 40 minutes before her body was found by her mother.

Officers always suspected Power had acted as the middle man in the crime and had been checking the area to possibly meet the killer.

Sometime later a former girlfriend of Power contacted gardaí and related how he told her that the ‘mastermind’ was “going to do” Irene White, as in, have her killed.

According to the witness, “Niall and (the mastermind) were always scheming ways to get rid of her.”

Power and another man were arrested and questioned about the crime in 2006 but released without charge due to a lack of hard evidence.

When the claims by his former girlfriend were put to him at the time, Power denounced her as “crazy” and claimed that she “had it in” for him.

The prime suspect had a cast-iron alibi for the time of the murder as he was attending an event in Dublin. Phone data and CCTV from the event corroborated this. There was no forensic evidence or telephone data that could sustain a conspiracy charge against the men at the time and the case remained open.

The two accomplices also went to great lengths to implicate completely innocent people in the murder in an unsuccessful attempt to deflect the spotlight from themselves.

In an interview with gardaí shortly after Ms White’s body had been found, the ‘mastermind’ nominated Power’s ex-girlfriend as a possible suspect.

He claimed the woman had called Ms White a “two-faced lying bitch” and then alleged that she had been “quite violent” towards Power during their relationship.

In an attempt to divert attention away from himself, he also claimed the woman had once “put a scissors to his (Power’s) throat”.

Detectives say that this was all said as a pre-emptive attempt to discredit any evidence she might later offer to gardaí.

The suspect claimed that he had seen a car similar to the woman’s parked outside Ms White’s home two weeks before the murder.

“That’s why I am curious why (the woman’s) car could be parked at the Ice House on Good Friday and Easter Sunday,” he said in his statement at the time.

He also pointed the finger of suspicion at a teenage petty criminal with whom the murder victim had a ‘run-in’ over his involvement with a relative.

The prime mover in the crime even tried to muddy the waters further by suggesting there had been bad feeling between Ms White and members of her wider family.

Meanwhile, in his initial statements to gardaí, Niall Power also attempted to divert the attention onto the teenage petty criminal.

Power told them: “I can’t think of any reason why this has happened and I don’t know her to have had any enemies.

“The only dispute she had that I know of was with (named teenager)…

“I did not assault Irene White on this day or any other day and I don’t know anyone who did. I am not in possession of any information other than what I’ve given you today.”

However, the enquiry team in Dundalk did not give up on the investigation.

In 2012 it was looked at again by the Cold Case Review Team which was led at the time by Chief Superintendent Christy Mangan who, as the current divisional commander in Louth, is now in charge of the renewed investigation.

As a result of the review, gardaí made a fresh appeal for information in July of that year.

This prompted Lambe’s former girlfriend to call anonymously from Australia to say that he had admitted murdering the mother.

Gardaí eventually traced the woman and interviewed her. A second woman also came forward with similar information and when Lambe was arrested he immediately confessed to what he had done.

Lambe described knocking on Ms White’s door and telling her that her gate had swung open. He pushed his victim back into the house, stabbing her in the chest and back and also cutting her throat before running out of the house again.

The killer claimed that he had said a prayer over his victim’s body. He outlined in detail how Niall Power solicited him to carry out the attack.

On the day that Lambe was sentenced to life for murder, Power walked into Dundalk garda station and gave himself up.

During questioning he admitted his role in the appalling crime and outlined the involvement of the prime suspect.

Now those all important admissions are likely to finally bring the man behind the shocking murder to justice.

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