Ana and the last evening she was seen alive
Ana Kriégel was 14 and lived with her family in Lucan. On the evening of May 14, 2018, Boy B came to her home and told her that Boy A wanted to meet her. Ana left believing she was going to see a boy she liked.
The prosecution case later established that Boy B brought Ana to a derelict house where Boy A was waiting. The jury accepted that Boy B knew Boy A intended to kill Ana and that his role in bringing her there formed part of the murder. Boy A was found to have carried out the physical attack and was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault.
The search and investigation
Ana's disappearance triggered a large Garda search. Investigators reconstructed the movements of the three children, examined the derelict property and interviewed both boys repeatedly. Boy B gave several different accounts before ultimately acknowledging that he had been present and had seen Boy A attack Ana, while denying that he shared responsibility for the murder.
At trial, the prosecution argued that Boy B was not a passive witness. The jury accepted evidence that he had deliberately brought Ana to the location knowing what Boy A intended. The defense maintained that he was an innocent bystander, but that position was rejected by the unanimous verdict.
The 2019 trial
Because both defendants were children, the Central Criminal Court used special procedures designed to reduce the formality and pressure normally associated with an adult murder trial. Their identities remained legally protected and they were referred to as Boy A and Boy B.
On June 18, 2019, the jury found both boys guilty of Ana's murder. Boy A was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Contemporary Irish reporting described them as the youngest people in the history of the State to be convicted of murder.
Sentencing
On November 5, 2019, Boy A received a life sentence for murder, with a review mechanism built into the original order after 12 years. Boy B received 15 years in detention, originally with a planned review after eight years. Boy A also received a concurrent sentence for the aggravated sexual assault.
Published reports have not always been consistent about the numerical length of that concurrent sexual-assault sentence. Because the murder conviction and life sentence are the central adjudicated facts for this archive, this page does not rely on the disputed secondary figure.
Boy B's conviction appeal
Boy B appealed his murder conviction. In 2022, after pre-hearing litigation over proposed fresh evidence, he withdrew the appeal on the morning it was due to proceed. The Court of Appeal confirmed that he understood the consequences. His murder conviction therefore remained in force.
Why the planned sentence reviews changed
A separate Supreme Court ruling delivered in 2025 considered the legality of life sentences and court-created sentence-review mechanisms for child offenders. The decision altered the procedural framework that had been assumed when Ana's killers were sentenced in 2019.
In January 2026, the Central Criminal Court accepted that it could not carry out Boy B's planned eight-year sentence review in the form originally ordered. The prosecution and defense agreed that the existing 15-year sentence remained in place and that the trial court had no further review function under the old mechanism.
Boy A's 2026 sentence appeal
Boy A did not challenge his murder conviction. In 2026, however, he was pursuing an appeal against the life sentence in light of the Supreme Court's later ruling on sentencing children. In March 2026, the Court of Appeal heard that records concerning his progress in custody would be important to that sentence appeal and that additional preparation time was needed.
This is a distinction that matters: the conviction is not being reported here as overturned or reopened. The live issue is the legality and structure of the sentence imposed on a child, not whether the jury's murder verdict still stands.
Timeline
May 14, 2018: Ana leaves home with Boy B and is killed at a derelict property in Lucan.
June 18, 2019: Boy A and Boy B are unanimously convicted of murder; Boy A is also convicted of aggravated sexual assault.
November 5, 2019: Boy A receives life detention with a planned review after 12 years; Boy B receives 15 years with a planned review after eight years.
October 5, 2022: Boy B withdraws his appeal against the murder conviction.
2025: the Supreme Court rules in a separate child-murder appeal that court-created review mechanisms of this kind are unlawful and that life sentences for children require exceptional justification.
January 19, 2026: the Central Criminal Court accepts it cannot conduct Boy B's planned sentence review; his 15-year sentence remains in force.
March 13, 2026: Boy A's sentence appeal remains before the Court of Appeal; the murder conviction itself is not under challenge.
Current status
The case is solved and adjudicated for purposes of this archive. Both murder convictions remain valid. Boy B withdrew his conviction appeal in 2022. Boy A's 2026 proceedings concern his sentence, not a claim that the murder conviction has been set aside. Because juvenile-sentencing law changed after the original 2019 orders, this page separates the final criminal findings from the still-developing question of how Boy A's punishment should be structured.
Sources
- RTÉ News — jury convicts Boy A and Boy B, June 18, 2019
- RTÉ News — sentencing, November 5, 2019
- RTÉ News — Boy B withdraws conviction appeal, October 5, 2022
- The Irish Times — planned Boy B sentence review cannot proceed, January 19, 2026
- The Irish Times — Boy A sentence-appeal case management, March 13, 2026
- Supreme Court of Ireland — 2025 judgment on sentencing children convicted of murder