Northern Ireland

Sectarian murder of Anne Marie Smyth features in US podcast

 Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons
Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons

THE sectarian murder of a young Catholic mother is set to be showcased on a true-crime podcast co-hosted by the artist who provides the voice of the iconic of cartoon character Lisa Simpson.

The latest season of Small Town Dicks podcast premiered last week with the case of Anne Marie Smyth (26), who was killed by loyalists in February 1992.

The mother-of-two from Armagh was strangled and had her throat cut after being lured to a house party in east Belfast.

Her body was later found at Ballarat Street in the Ravenhill area.

Some of those involved in the brutal murder were linked to the UVF.

The popular podcast is hosted by Yeardley Smith, who is best known for providing the voice of Lisa, from the popular cartoon programme The Simpsons.

Along with her co-hosts she is joined by a former RUC officer known only as Detective Sam.

In the episode titled “The Wrong Kind of Irish” he explains that after joining the RUC reserve in 1976 he signed up full time in 1978 and became a detective in 1982.

Based in Belfast he was involved with the Anne Marie Smith investigation.

During the podcast Detective Sam talks Ms Yeardley and her co-hosts through the shocking details of the young mother's brutal murder.

Five men were later jailed for life for what a judge described as a "particularly gruesome murder".

In 1997 the Court of Appeal struck out three of the convictions and gave shorter sentences for lesser offences connected with the killing.

The Wrong Kind of Irish is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SmallTownDicks.com