In this episode of Police Six with Keith Burnside, police appeal for help and any information that could help with their inquiries into the brutal murder of Lily Smyth in her Finaghy home in October 1988.

Ms Smyth, a retired civil servant and member of a local church who lived alone at the high-rise Moveen House, was last seen alive on the afternoon of Saturday, October 8, 1988. She was a member of the church choir and was due to attend a harvest service the following morning. The pensioner’s absence from the harvest service was noticed by other members of the congregation and Ms Smyth’s friends decided to call in and see her, along with fellow churchgoer and local GP Dr Rowley. Her body was discovered in the bedroom.  

20 years later, a neighbour of the deceased stood trial for her murder. Stevenson, who at the time was 24 and who lived in a flat directly opposite the murder victim.

The case was re-opened in 2005 by the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team. After evidence from the initial investigation was forensically re-examined, Stevenson was allegedly linked to both Ms Smyth and the murder scene by his DNA.

Presented by Keith Burnside