Graham Dwyer is facing life behind bars for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O'Hara.

It took the jury seven and a half hours to find the Foxrock architect guilty, after a nine week trial with some of the most graphic and disturbing evidence ever to come before a court.

Dwyer will be given the mandatory life sentence for murder on April 20th, when victim impact evidence will also be heard.

But it seems to be a case that was almost missed.

Paul Williams is special correspondent with the Irish Independent. He told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk that it was only the persistence of some people that saw it ever brought to light.

The gardaí still had to find the man connected with the case, after they identified Ms O'Hara.

"The first thing they did was start looking at the statements (from people involved) again - and he (Dwyer) is lurking in the middle of the statements", Williams says.

"There is a man, like a ghost out there."

Paul Williams says that this discovery, again, was coincidental.

Dwyer's ex-girlfriend, Eimear McShea, also gave evidence during the trial. But who was she and how did they meet?

Paul Williams says Dwyer was very controlling over her - and even proposed marriage.

"She basically became terrified of the man," Williams says. "She didn't want to do it, but she felt she was powerless to refuse it".