The case I can't forget-Rachel O'Reilly

Munstergirl854

Good detailed documentary on RTE at the mo....god he really hung himself by his own rope revelling in it.

Autosport

Very good so far 👍

Xander10

Decent doc. The heartbreak for her parents is unbearable.

RIP

Not a complaint (an observation is all)... Ya could have given the name 'Callaly' in thread title OP out of respect - to get rid of association.. Pity posters can't change these things 😴

cap.in.hand.

The late late show unwittingly in the mix of having Graham o dywer and Joe O Reilly in their studios after both committing murders and both now jailed for their crimes

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118243035#Comment_118243035

Another sick thing is both of these 'monsters' might be friends inside

Atlantic Dawn

The house was sold 6 years ago, not sure I would ever be able to put the murder out of my mind...

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/oreilly-death-home-sells-for-80k-over-original-asking-price-31456125.html

padd b1975

Shouldn't O' Reilly be nearing the end of his sentence soon?

I'd expect him to be moved to an open prison soon.

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118245409#Comment_118245409

He'll probably be let out on good behaviour.

Tork

Yes, he's nearing the end of his sentence. I think that's why his lawyers aren't pursuing the phone records angle like Graham Dwyer's are. I listened to Nicola Tallant's podcast recently where she spoke to Jenny Friel (who was also on last night's documentary). Interestingly, she said at the end that Joe O'Reilly's kids believe he is innocent.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118245475#Comment_118245475

he has only done 14 years. he has a good few years to go yet.

cap.in.hand.

From the documentary last nite that Rachel accused him of having a affair and was going to leave him ....the night before her murder the following morning...may have been the detonator for the fatal attack he did to her that morning.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118245513#Comment_118245513

Yep... hopefully.

hed be an absolute danger... numerous Gardai who worked on the case actually are on record maintaining that he’s actually a psychopath...as in a psychological diagnosis not just because he killed.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118246064#Comment_118246064

I wouldn't be at all surprised. I went to school with his brother and he was the same.

Pussyhands

Very interesting documentary, especially the detectives bit regarding the late late show and them interviewing those who worked on the show.

I'm surprised the cctv footage of the car along with O'Reillys alibi at broadstone shown to be him lying, along with the fact he was having an affair wouldn't be enough to charge him.

It is kinda interesting looking back at when this happened. I was only a kid when it happened and looked at Rachel/Joe as these mature adults and now I'm older than both of them at that time.

It's hard to know what he was thinking. He didn't plan it well. You'd think if he was planning it that he'd have a better alibi. How did he know Pelley was going to stay with him after murdering someone? He could have used her as an alibi.

He was back and gone within 40 minutes. You'd think there'd be at least some evidence at the house, clothes with blood. Footprints etc. Some evidence left behind. I know he made sure to get her blood on him when he came in with the parents but still...Even interviews with his work colleagues, was he acting different etc.

McGarnigle2020

Great watch, always amazed at people who slate RTE when they regularly put out stuff like this, you wouldn't find a documentary half as good on the rubbish Netflix serve up.

Really baffled as to how the DPP wasn't convinced by his phone showing him to have blatantly lied about his location, but reporting a second hand conversation was more than enough, when combined with the phone evidence that originally wasn't enough!?

Seems to me if his girlfriend had invoked her right to silence they wouldn't have got a case- a woman claiming her friend told her about something her boyfriend had said- all second hand, surely wouldn't get too far.

With such a circumstantial case one wonders if the DPP would have accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter, he probably would have got 12 years, out in 9.

McGarnigle2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118245513#Comment_118245513

18 would be the typical served on a life sentence. Extensions are usually only granted if the killer is believed to be an ongoing danger to random members of the public (Graham Dwyer could be one who would fall under this after his 18 years) or where the release would be a danger to public order (there's five lads from the Limerick feud who should have been getting out early this year for the Owen Tracey murder who don't seem to be heading anywhere soon).

Other exemption would be murders treated as an attack on the state itself (Garda killers, Brian Meehan who murdered Guerin is still in jail, 25 years in 2022, due out then I think)

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118252525#Comment_118252525

the average is 20 years served for murder for those released in 2019. i cant see him getting out that soon.

McGarnigle2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118252841#Comment_118252841

I was surprised that O'Reilly seemed to be on bail during his trial., presumably well before it too. I would have thought he would be regarded as too much of a flight risk, or at risk of harassing his girlfriend/ her friend into recanting the statements they gave to Gardai, or even a risk of harming Rachel's parents if he felt he was bang to rights and blamed them. Did he have visitation rights to his kids during this period? Who got custody of them? And was he the sole beneficiary of the house being sold?

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253703#Comment_118253703

his parents had custody of the kids I believe.

whelan2

His mother

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118252841#Comment_118252841

The fact that hes never admitted his guilt would also go against early release presumably.

Jequ0n

The usual debate...

Cases like this happen all the time, for a lot of reasons. Of course he is to be released upon completing his sentence, no matter what armchair experts diagnose him with.

Hotblack Desiato

Nobody is ever released after completing a life sentence 🙄

Hotblack Desiato

Extensions are usually only granted if the killer is believed to be an ongoing danger to random members of the public

It's as if killing a woman you know is a lesser offence.

Pussyhands

A couple of things the detective said didn't seem correct to me.

He said burglars don't go around opening all drawers and overturning tables. I'd have thought they'd have done exactly that, smashed everything to see where the money is hidden.

Similarly he said burglars don't bury or hide stolen goods somewhere to then go back and get it. This I know for a fact isn't true as I know of multiple examples where cars were stolen and they were parked in a location not far from where they were stolen. Same with bikes.

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255648#Comment_118255648

Most murders are committed by a person who had a close connection to the victim. Just because he killed his spouse doesn’t mean he will kill again. It’s perfectly possible that he never offends again upon release.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255740#Comment_118255740

YEah I thought that was funny too.

We were burgled and they went through all the drawers and wardrobes. Every one in the whole house. They even pulled out the contents of the drawers in the freezer. And my camera and other halfs purse were found thrown in a ditch down the road a week later by a neighbor.

Maybe it was Joe O'Reilly that burgled us :)

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255740#Comment_118255740

I think maybe it was because her hand bag with money visible were left of the table untouched made them question why pull everything about when easy pickings are in plain sight?

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255817#Comment_118255817

That means nothing though.

Obviously not the case with the O'Reily murder but i imagine a normal scenario with a burglar might happen like so.

If an intruder is interupted by a woman coming home they are not going to go through her bag. They are going to run. Or if they kill her and run, they still wont stop to take her handbag. They probably would also dump anything they robbed after thinking about it, if it ended up in a murder.

Plus the stuff about a burglar not opening drawers is definitely not true.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255718#Comment_118255718

The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

The reaction of the perpetrator upon returning to the scene of the crime was always going to be the most difficult part for o'reilly and he'd clearly given it some thought. Would it be too obvious to immediately declare that she'd been murdered or was it better to play dumb and think she'd had a fall, giving the impression he'd no idea what a murdered person looked like.

He'd already started along that narrative when mentioning a possible fall to her mother when asking her to go and check on Rachael. It was a pretty telling aspect even in itself.