The Killing of Fr Niall Molloy

Munstergirl854

On RTE One now...

Having late night drinks with a couple in their bedroom....Seems to be doing more damage to his reputation than anything imo....

Tork

I love how people rush to judgement minutes after a TV show like this starts to air 🙄

oranbhoy67

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058207690/the-killing-of-fr-niall-molloy

I'm sure that bothers him now he's murdered and his family have had no justice for nearly 40 years you absolute idiot.. it doesn't matter if they were having a 20 man gangbang as long as it was legal

his murder certainly wasn't, have a look at yourself

Tork

I only knew the broad outline of the story so I learned some new things tonight. It looks like they are holding off the good stuff until next week. So far, it's starting to look very like the Flynns had the money and influence to be able to avoid justice.

It was a terrible case. I remember when it happened. Seems like the Flynns had really been taking advantage of him.

I can't see his family getting any nearer to the truth or getting justice at this stage. Very sad.

Tork

No, it's too long ago at this stage and most if not all of the main players are now dead. But if the Flynns were able to bypass the justice system in the way they seem to have, it'd make you wonder who else has pulled the same stunt?

https://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/08/23/the-troublesome-priest/

take a look at this article- it’s faking frightening

cap.in.hand.

Looks like financial dealings was the root cause of the disturbance at the house that night.

Dual wheels

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117856262#Comment_117856262

If you look at the fr Niall Molloy website it has a letter from an anonymous person stating that a doctors wife died in mysterious circumstances 10 days after the death of fr Molloy an indo article states that 2 mysterious deaths of witnesses occurred after the death of fr Molloy, who were these people?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117856532#Comment_117856532

I don’t know but will be glued to Part 2 next week - We had G.U.B.U in the 80s but I’m my eyes this is beyond GU BU - this is total corruption to the core. A botched investigation- witnesses not interviewed for 30 years- a Judge who knew the defendant-

if you look at the Sophie Toscan threads-Sky and Netflix- there’s all sorts of conspiracy theories around Garda cover-ups etc When you read about this case you’d really wonder

Scoundrel

It just goes to show the kind of scum who attain high office in this land and that once you have money and status you can literally get away with murder.

This was the most clear cut and obvious case of murder in history he was found beaten to death in their house Flynn admitted it and yet he walked due to the Judge being his mate.

A very good timeline article here

https://www.broadsheet.ie/2016/07/11/the-father-of-all-cover-ups/

cap.in.hand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117856872#Comment_117856872

The Molloy family didn't think Richard did it ...too convenient for the family friend doctor to actually drive the wife to the hospital before gardai were called...she should not have left the house as it was a potential crime scene and was there at that time.

Acosta

I haven't watched it yet, but there was a Today Tonight special in 1987 that went into the incident in great detail, as well as the goings on during the court case and how the judge behaved. This was on prime time TV just two years after the murder when the suspect was still alive, yet still nothing happened regarding a new investigation.

Xander10

Surprised this hasn't received more comments. I wasn't aware of the facts before, and it appears a lousy miscarriage of justice. Looking forward to part 2. Hope the nephew can find justice.

Dual wheels

It looks like the Flynn’s weren’t the only people in the house when fr Molloy was killed, a doctor from kilbeggan was called even though there was a doctor in Clara, was the Clara doctor already in attendance?

the statement made my Flynn’s son would allude to the fact that it wasn’t his father who killed Molloy and possibly wasn’t any of the Flynn’s at all

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857393#Comment_117857393

I got the impression from the interviews with Molloy's relatives that they believe Richard Flynn was the killer. It would be unlikely a woman could inflict such fatal injuries. The question arises were there other male persons present when he suffered the fatal assault?

Spencer101

It seems the priest was killed some time before the strange sequence of how they got outside help- from memory someone drove past a nearer doctor to get a doctor further away. The parish priest was at the Flynns' residence but didn't make certain calls for help as he didn't have his glasses and then went home to get the glasses but didn't then make those calls, for help, as he assumed someone at the Flynns' house had now done it. A very bizarre time line across the board which can not be true and many of us would assume allowed them some time to get a plan in place. Richard Flynn had a bruised hand. His story of striking his wife and the priest was therefore partly true. Multiple reports over the years say that Richard Flynn was not thought in the area to be the murderer. The same reports tend to suggest that the murderer was still alive after the death of Therese Flynn in the 1990s. I have no sense from the TV as to how tall or robust a woman Therese Flynn was but intuitively feel that a man killed Niall Molloy. So 36 years later it seems unlikely we will ever know the truth but the following scenario generally works for me. There was a row between Niall Molloy and the Flynns- take your choice it was either to do with the £12,000 the priest wanted back or because Therese Flynn was sleeping with Niall Molloy or indeed perhaps both. 1 of the 3 of them struck someone first and a scuffle started. A younger male person over heard this/ walked in to the start of it and then went to the aid of the Flynns and for whatever reason perhaps they were drunk, perhaps there were other reasons, battered Niall Molloy with very considerable force.

cap.in.hand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117859324#Comment_117859324

It was said that a blunt instrument may have also used to hit the the victim....a bronze horse figurine was mentioned...no doubt Richard involved in melee that evening...just it would look more credible for her if she had stayed at the house and then go to hospital after gardai arrived as her husband was implicating her also on how this incident started.

Spencer101

They had made their choices as to who they called/ didn't call and when. The local priest who is now deceased was presumably sympathetic to perhaps his richest parishioner. The culture of the time seemed to favour keeping things quiet/ not causing a scandal. Therese Flynn may have thrown a punch or pushed someone but my sense of it is the bulk of the fighting was done by Richard Flynn and likely another male where that male would have very much wished to go to the aid of the Flynns. Best recall is Dominic McGlinn S.C's report 6/7 years ago said there were no records available from Tullamore hospital as to any injuries she may have had. I think we were told last night that Niall Molloy had no defensive wounds so he probably didn't punch anyone but may have in a row got up too close to Richard or Therese Flynn and/or pushed one of them. The murderer if one believes the multiple reports over the years (that it was not Richard Flynn) is still as far as we know alive and perhaps 55-60 years old.

batman75

There was a county surgeon at the house that night. He died a year later from a heart attack. His wife, who was there as well, is still alive and I believe knows what happened but it seems nobody will talk.

Spencer101

His wife was Therese Flynn's sister in law ? There are likely several people alive between the age of c55-65 who you would have thought know what happened that night but they decided to protect one of their number.

cap.in.hand.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117859801#Comment_117859801

Richard Flynn will always be implicated because he admitted the punches he gave Molloy could in some way may have led to his untimely death...he may have been the fall-guy for someone else but seemed to step up to the plate that it may have been his fault... jail term or not....that'll live with that family forever....their lives were going to be changed anyway because of what happened at their home

funkey_monkey

As time goes by the chances of a conviction gets exponentially smaller. Same with Sophie case too. Neither will ever be solved.

Spencer101

Therese Flynn seems to have died before her time in the 1990's- exactly when in that decade I don't know. If she was roughly the same age as her husband in 1985 she was 47 (or so) and therefore died by about her 60th birthday ? Richard Flynn had a fair innings dying in 2017 and was said to be in 'his late 80's' - but that must have been an error ' late 70's' would be more correct if his age was reported correctly (at the time of the murder) ? The Revenue went after Flynn in 1987 for £126,000 which is perhaps €500,000 in today's values ? Kilcoursey House was, by necessity, sold in the early 1990s aside from the Revenue they were being chased by Barclays bank for debts. On top of that the Molloy family sued the Flynn's at least once over I think the £12,000 referred to last night. Paddy McEntee SC was at his absolute height in 1986 and presumably a private paying client who got off a manslaughter charge paid really, rather a lot of money for McEntee's services. Can't find anything specific now but tend to recall in 2017 when Richard died some of the reports said he moved away from Offaly, continued in business but lived in reduced circumstances. Dominic McGinn refers, in 2014 in his report to some of the Flynn children being divorced but that aside I don't know to what degree the parents possible troubles after the murder were visited on the wider family.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117856872#Comment_117856872

Admitting to killing someone is not an admission of murder.

brooke 2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858317#Comment_117858317

This case has angered me for years! Bill Maher, Fr. Molloy's nephew, had a thread about it on Politics.ie. which I used to follow.

My heart goes out to the family. I cannot imagine their frustration at the justice system in this country and their pain at what is

clearly the murder of their uncle. I had not realised some family members suffered death threats and had their house burnt down.

What is more disturbing is that planning permission to rebuild was allegedly blocked by FF politicians. It really is a scandal that this

case has not received more publicity over the years, especially when you see the fuss made in the media about things which, in the

whole scheme of things, do not matter a whit.

batman75

Pretty sure R Flynn moved to Moate and re-married. His first wife's sister was married to a county surgeon. His first wife was from Galway. She died I believe circa 1991.

Turfcutter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyrR3jxEtA

Today Tonight from 1987

batman75

Just watched the documentary on the RTE player. A number of observations

1. Flynn's explanation of a row over getting a drink seems tosh.
2. Why was the coroner's inquest held after the criminal trial.
3. Flynn's son seemed to intimate that the truth couldn't be spoken.
4. Is Theresa's Flynn's amnesia plausible?
5. I would question her amnesia considering she tried to fraudulently cash in an insurance policy of Fr Molloy some years later.
6. Flynn died in 2017 and based on him being 47 in 1986 that put him at 78/79 when he did die.

It was heartbreaking seeing the hurt on the faces of the relatives of Fr Molloy. Justice Roe did his profession a grave disservice in taking the case. He was friends with the Flynn's and should have stepped aside. I find it inconceivable that a member of the Flynn family isn't in a position to give a definitive account of what happened to Fr Molloy. Justice seems unlikely now but the truth can always come out. They owe it to the family of Fr Molloy.

brooke 2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860979#Comment_117860979

Excellent presentation.

Dual wheels

Sounds like these reports are stating that Flynn’s son was the killer?

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860914#Comment_117860914

Therese Flynn died in 1993.

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861524#Comment_117861524

Even accounting for the dubious timelines (claimed assault time vs. actual time) David Flynn would have one of the better alibis - in White's pub until closing time and then hosting the younger family members in his house 3 miles away for sandwiches afterwards.

sligojoek

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860979#Comment_117860979

Thanks for that.

A great watch. Very concise.

Spencer101

I need to rewatch the Today Tonight show but does it not menion that one of the Flynn's daughters or daughters-in-law said, at the inquest, they were in the pub until about midnight but the pub in fact closed at about 10pm. There is also a conflict in evidence between when they got to the pub- Flynn family say about 930pm independent witnesses say 9pm.

The entire time line as presented by Flynn family was inaccurate and likely deliberately inaccurate. The one part of the evening that is most accurate is that Father Molloy was in the car with the Flynns on the way back to Kilcoursey House after they left their mutual friends the Goodbodys. They pass most of the younger member of the Flynn family going to the pub- the Goodbodys (I think) say the Flynns left at 9pm or 920pm. Kilcoursey to the Goodbodys is apparently no more than 5 minutes in a car. An 'Auntie May' lived in Kilcoursey- perhaps Richard or Therese's aunt and the children's Great-Aunt ? A Flynn daughter and daughter-in-law stayed with Auntie May whilst Richard, Therese and Fr Molloy were out visiting. The two younger women then go down to the pub and catch up with the group. At that point perhaps one of the younger crowd in the pub says I'm just going back to talk to Richard and/or Therese and/ or Fr Niall.

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861647#Comment_117861647

I don't remember an account that the pub closed at 10pm. I would have thought this less likely in that era. Pubs were usually busy on a Sunday night.

There was a total group of 10 who ended up in Whites. Even if they were all in cahoots in giving false accounts of their movements, they were leaving themselves open to contradiction by independent witnesses by using such a public setting for an alibi.

Spencer101

Indeed. As I follow the Today Tonight programme that's exactly what happened. My take on what the show says is that a man who was not in their group but had been at the wedding saw them in the pub at 9pm. They claim to have got to the pub at 945pm and left after midnight. Today Tonight explicitly says the pub closed at 10 that night. The relevant part is about 24 minutes after beginning of  the program.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117860979#Comment_117860979

Thanks for this, will watch it later. Today Tonight was a very good programme. I don't watch any of the current offerings but I don't think they compare well.

I didn't watch the programme this week. I remember the case, but had forgotten / didn't really know a lot about it, especially the aftermath.

Did the Flynns own a coffee shop in Athlone, at some stage? I think I remember someone pointing him out to me.

Sadly, I don't think Fr Molloy's family will ever see justice done. May he rest in peace.

cml387

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861741#Comment_117861741

Closing time was 10pm on Sunday's in those days. Of course they could have stayed longer.

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861865#Comment_117861865

I wouldn't say it's definitive that the pub closed at 10pm. People give best guesses on timelines, so expect some leeway. Perhaps the witness gave an estimate that if they left at closing, then it must have been just after 10.

In that era the pubs in Clara would have been still going after 10pm on a Sunday. That day Offaly had played Dublin in Tullamore and there were 25,000 at it. I would think this would see a bigger turn out in the pubs. My recollection is that the local sergeant Kevin Forde was quite sociable himself and wouldn't have been known to be hammering on pub windows with flashlight 1 minute after closing.

Also, if Denis Hoctor was not going to corroborate the Flynn timeline, would he give a false alibi if the assaulter was part of the group of 10?

More interestingly. Was it strange that the group went out to Tubber for a night cap instead of back to Flynn's? Surely it was a bit unsocial to not reconvene with the remaining wedding guests in Kilcoursey? Did they get word that something was up and to stay away, or did they get quickly ushered away from the house and told to get elsewhere if they were coming back directly from White's?

The key timelines are when did any remaining guests start to evacuate the house when they realised there was an incident brewing? In the McGinn report there is an account of someone well dressed vaulting the wall between 10pm and 11pm and running away. There were other anecdotal accounts in the locality of people scattering away from the estate around this time.

Could the guards have checked phone records to see when the phone calls to the solicitor in Dublin began? There are accounts that this is where the advice to clear the house of witnesses came.

The technology may have less advanced but Telecom Eireann at least had the capability of knowing how much to bill you by for regional phone call.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861364#Comment_117861364

That was when we had real public service broadcasting and the presenters were not the star's

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861886#Comment_117861886

Yes, there was a cafe (Chez Ninis) in the old Quinnsworth shopping centre that Therese was running up until her death.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862101#Comment_117862101

We were moving from electro/ mechanical to digital exchanges at the time. I think the last actual manual exchange did not close until late 1980's. I think you had to opt in for detailed bills showing all calls and there was a charge when it came in. Clara would have been a small sub telephone exchange so it would depend on the technology available in it at the time.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862137#Comment_117862137

Yes, I couldn't think of the name of it, but I can picture it alright in the old shopping centre.

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862151#Comment_117862151

While the end user may not been able to see the itemised bill, the exchange itself would have had some logging mechanism?

If I'm correct, the 05 area has it master hub in Waterford, but houses in Clara were connected to the Portlaoise exchange.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117861886#Comment_117861886

Richard Flynn owned a group of motorfactors, they were more in the Halfords line than your local motorfactor now. I think they were called Richland. I think he had one in the Parkway shopping center in Limerick. He bought out the lease of one in the Cresent Shopping center and renamed it. I remember at the time the product offering was not as good as under the previous management.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862108#Comment_117862108

True. I remember a good programme too, most likely Today Tonight about the phone tapping.

Turfcutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862173#Comment_117862173

They were called RichSpeed at some point.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862167#Comment_117862167

It would depend on whether Clara was digital at the time or electro mechanical. If electro mechanical there is no hope detailed billing was available.

cap.in.hand.

That today tonight investigation programme was excellent and what struck me most was the partnership between fr Molloy and Therese Molloy which included valuable land holdings and horses but when fr Molloy died,the Flynn's would seem to have got full control of those assets as the previous partnership not registered legally it seemed and was based on trust and fr Molloy's trust he had with the Flynn's may have being coming to a end that weekend.