A new book is shining a light on the murder of Patricia O'Connor, and who she really was.

Kieran Greene was handed a life sentence for murdering the 61-year-old at their home at Mountain View Park in Rathfarnham in 2017.

Four other members of her family were also sentenced for their roles in an attempted cover-up of the murder.

Newstalk's courts correspondent Frank Greaney has written 'Crowded House: The definitive story behind the gruesome murder of Patricia O'Connor'.

Frank told Pat Kenny why he decided to tell the untold story.

'Crowded House: The definitive story behind the gruesome murder of Patricia O'Connor' by Frank Greaney

"I have covered many of the most horrendous cases to come before the courts, both here and in Northern Ireland and indeed over in England."

"And I have been approached in the past to write books about these various stories - Ana Kriégel, for example, a case that we covered extensively on this show.

"And I turned them down, and the reason I suppose I turned those down was because I didn't feel there was anything new I could bring to that story, and that I felt that I would have just been dredging up all of that horror for no good reason or no greater purpose other than selling books.

"What appealed to me about this story was I felt that a great wrong had been done to Patricia O'Connor.

"Not only had Kieran Greene disrespected her body after he bludgeoned her to death in the home that they shared in Rathfarnham back in May 2017, but more than that he dragged her name through the mud afterwards.

"He told lie after lie, and he really tore her character asunder in the statements that he gave to Gardaí and indeed some of the others that were in the dock did the same".

"What peaked my interest during the trial was getting to know the people who genuinely cared about Patricia O'Connor - her brothers and sisters who came up to sit in on the trial to support her sister and indeed Richard, her son, throughout the very difficult trial process.

"And what struck me about those exchanges was that she came from an amazing family, and I just wondered how can this family have so much love in their hearts for somebody that was being depicted as a monster and a violent bully.

"And thankfully through those conversations, I learned that she was anything but and I wanted to tell her story".

Louise O'Connor (41) as well as Louise O'Connor's ex-partner, Keith Johnson (43) and Stephanie O'Connor arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice for the Patricia O Connor court case in February 2020. Picture by: RollingNews.ie

Frank said Patricia took pride in her home, which she owned, but shared with eight other people.

"There were nine people living under the same roof, three generations of the same family.

"Gus and Patricia lived there in separate bedrooms - they were married but they weren't living as man and wife.

"Louise, her daughter, was living there, Louise's five children from three different fathers, were also living there.

"Kieran Greene was living there too - they had dogs, cats, budgies."

Louise (41) and Stephanie O’Connor (22) outside the Criminal Courts of Justice for the Patricia O'Connor court case in January 2020. Picture by: RollingNews.ie

"Patricia had great plans for that house, she took great pride in the garden out the back that she tended to.

"But sadly, and it was feature in the case, the people that lived under her roof - she owned the house - the people that lived there didn't have the same respect for the house and certainly didn't help with the upkeep of it".

'Left with no choice'

Frank also delves into Patricia's personal life - including a relationship she had with a female colleague.

"Patricia left the home when the children were small, the relationship - her marriage with Gus - had petered away.

"She was working in Beaumont Hospital at the time, she did start up another relationship with a woman... this was a woman that she met through work.

"That particular relationship didn't end very well; this woman that she was having a relationship with ended up with somebody else, and Patricia was left living in an apartment on her own in Rathmines - paying rent and bills there, while also financing the house in Mountain View Park.

"She was working every hour that the hospital could sent her, but in the end it was just too much to bear on her own.

"And she felt that she was left with no choice but to move back to Mountain View Park.

"She did own the house, she was paying the mortgage, so she was more than entitled to go back.

"But she certainly wasn't welcomed back with open arms by the sounds of it.

"Louise's family had grown, the house was busier than the one that she left when the children were small.

"And she wanted things to be done a certain way - she was very house proud... Louise certainly didn't share her respect for the house.

"Patricia and Louise were constantly locking horns over the state of the place, the fact that she didn't clean up after her own children".

"Kieran Greene was useless when it came to house-keeping, Gus didn't seem to care apparently.

"When tensions were rife in the house between Louise and Kieran and Patricia and she would look for some support from Gus, Gus generally didn't take sides - or if he did he would lean towards Louise.

"Louise was a very controlling person as well, this was something that emerged towards the end of the trial.

"And Gus even said after the sentence hearing and after the trial process was concluded, when he was speaking to a psychologist, he actually claimed that he was the victim of elder abuse at the hands of his daughter and Kieran Greene".

'Crowded House: The definitive story behind the gruesome murder of Patricia O'Connor' is published by Gill Books