Documentary on the Joe O' Reilly case

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253636#Comment_118253636

The Case I Can't Forget @ https://www.rte.ie/player/series/the-case-i-can-t-forget-s2-e1/SI0000008064?epguid=IP000067302

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118252585#Comment_118252585

I remember in the doc there was something about Rachel saying something had to change or things would change.

But it didn't say when she said that in relation to when it happened. He didn't plan it well at all.

• He didn't have an eye witness for his alibi at Broadstone
• You'd have thought he'd have checked out his route to ensure he wasn't seen on CCTV
• You'd think he'd have left his phone at work.
• There had to have been some evidence or DNA on clothes etc. that he managed to "cover" for himself by hugging Rachels body when he came into the house getting her blood over him. What if he arrived home and the guards didn't allow anyone in?
• His behaviour was very strange after and would have made him look very suspect (i.e lying about the affair, lying about the guard saying the Late Late was a good idea, staying with his mistress the night he was on the Late Late, the strange behaviour of re enacting the murder.

I'm actually surprised how much evidence they needed to charge him.

• CCTV of his car
• Lying about affair being over
• Staying with his mistress on night of the Late Late
• No alibi to prove he was at Broadstone (I think they said the eye witness Reilly said he saw turned out not to be there)
• Pelleys friend saying Joe said he'd kill Rachel if he got away with it.

All the above wasn't enough to charge him, they needed the phone pings.

I find that crazy. Did they not detain his email and phone records? That would have quickly and easily shown he was lying about the affair being over and shown all the hate emails about Rachel

standardg60

The mobile phone pings were completely new at the time, he couldn't have foreseen that. If he'd left the phone in Broadstone he'd never have been convicted, he nearly committed the perfect murder.

Would love to know where the towel he used and the murder weapon (a dumbbell by his own account) ended up. They're still out there somewhere.

Pussyhands

If mobile phone pings are enough to pin you to the scene of a crime, if they ping elsewhere, would that rule you out of a murder?

Could lead to people putting their phone into someone elses bag or something.

wonga77

The Guards deserve great credit for pursuing it and seeing the charge pushed through.

God love the poor mother who found her daughter battered to death. He deserved to be buried in a deep hole for that alone

Pussyhands

I wonder what the people are like that live there now.

I checked on google maps and there's a recovery truck there.

Would they have been told of the history? Maybe they are foreigners without knowing of the case there.

It's mad how fast time flies. The time between O'Reilly being jailed and the house being sold is shorter than the time the house was sold and now.

freshpopcorn

@Pussyhands I'm fairly sure that house was rented out for a while and then sold.

TV3 did a program outside it a few years ago and it looked fairly spruced up. A simple Goggle would have told people about the house.

From what I know Joe did have some sort alibi the morning at the bus depot. It was sort of Joe was working in one area and he was in another area.

Were the jury told about the murder tours, etc or were they made public after it happened.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254307#Comment_118254307

Murder tours?

I wonder what room she was murdered in? The house looks pretty run down inside and not much done with it when it was being sold.

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254429#Comment_118254429

Ya, I think when I saw it some where last it had new windows, painted grey, etc.

I'm fairly sure it was fairly documented at the time that it was in the bedroom.

freshpopcorn

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253333#Comment_118253333

This.... maybe they didn’t like the girl but fùck that... if a relation of mine killed someone unless it was self defense... goodbye..

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254429#Comment_118254429

Seriously, you'd want to make yourself more au fait with the case before posting on here.

He conducted 'murder tours' for anyone who was interested, including raining down imaginary blows on one knee in front of her parents, and also saying that the killer 'may' have had to interrupt their cleaning up when they heard her gurgling to go back and administer one more blow.

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253333#Comment_118253333

Graham Dwyers family are exactly the same. I remember reading an account of the trial that during intervals that his father would chat and joke with him on the stand, all in front of Elaine O Haras family. They seem like a strange bunch.

MintyMagnum

At one stage weren't Rachel's parents fighting for access to their grandsons. Big bang of 'My Johnny' off his mother. Crazy to think of Rachel's kids raised in that toxic household being told god knows what about their 'terrible' mother and 'wronged' saintly father. His sister seems quite the piece of toxic work too. Terrible smear campaign they were all involved in before O' Reilly killed their daughter -in- law / sister-in-law trying to paint Rachel as an unfit mother, a narrative which social services didn't buy. Don't know how the Callalys fared with access they couldn't talk about it in the media. Seems wrong to me that his lot got her kids.

MintyMagnum

Is it how they are such master manipulators they even have their own families fooled? I know someone here said he will never confess because it means he will have to admit to the kids he killed their mother but how does he account for his phone being at the scene at the time of their mother's murder ... or its journey to work early morning, then back out from work and back into work again mid morning...

Jequ0n

Of course he staged the scene and put on a show…nobody wants to get caught for murder. There is nothing unusual or strange about this behaviour as such, but he obviously overplayed it and got caught. I am surprised so many people find it unusual that he would have tried to get away with his crime.

Ush1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118251821#Comment_118251821

There was blood on the inner part of his boot which would not be accounted for by him moving a box after the mother discovered the body. It's not too difficult to contaminate a scene when your live with the victim and would be often in physical contact. Your DNA would be expected to be everywhere.

mariaalice

I wonder would genuine mental health support prevent issues like this? or is the behavior set in stone and no counseling or reality testing or anything similar would help?

It was obvious he thought his parent in law looked down on or thought they were better than him even though that was all nonsense and all in his head, or his belief that his wife was a bad mother again all in his head no basis in reality, or are the beliefs so deeply internalised nothing would help.

As someone else said a big bang of my Jonney is perfect/wouldn't do anything like that it's all someone else's fault from the whole case.

storker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254547#Comment_118254547

I always thought that re-enactment was a dead giveaway.

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254547#Comment_118254547

Murder tours usually involve taking people on tours of an area and saying "and there is where so and so was murdered", not what you describe.

Also, This is After hours lest we forget.

mariaalice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258390#Comment_118258390

You are correct and maybe it should be closed although I do think education and understanding an abusive relationship is a good thing.

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258472#Comment_118258472

I wasn't suggesting it should be closed, My comment was directed at the poster quoted, Acting as if an in depth knowledge of the case was a pre requisite for posting in this thread

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258241#Comment_118258241

What do you consider “genuine” mental health support?

Do you think dedicated mental health workers are the solution to prevent tragedies?

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258390#Comment_118258390

That's exactly what he did, though being the actual killer he was able to go further and describe the murder itself.

Agree with you on the other front though, my bad

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258686#Comment_118258686

Ah i get what you mean, We're talking about the same thing, But on a much more localised area, i.e the different parts of the house. When you said murder tour my mind went to the likes of the jack the ripper tours you see in London.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118253967#Comment_118253967

I'm actually surprised how much evidence they needed to charge him.

CCTV of his car

Lying about affair being over

Staying with his mistress on night of the Late Late

No alibi to prove he was at Broadstone (I think they said the eye witness Reilly said he saw turned out not to be there)

Pelleys friend saying Joe said he'd kill Rachel if he got away with it.

With the exception of maybe the car all of that is circumstantial evidence.

They needed the phone data to tie together all his movements.

Ush1

The emails also clearly showed he hated his wife.

Hangdogroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258241#Comment_118258241

Mental health support doesn't apply with psychopaths.

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118262119#Comment_118262119

A common misconception because most people assume psychopaths to all be the same.

I also don’t think he has been formally identified as such.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258750#Comment_118258750

If all of the things listed aren't enough, then why is him just being in the general vicinity enough?

None of the things I listed pin him at the scene when the murder happened but neither do mobile phone pings.

In my opinion, CCTV footage of his car driving that road at that time, him lying about an alibi, lying about an affair, saying he'd kill her if he got away with it is far more evidence then a mobile phone pinging a nearby mast when he maybe went home to change a shirt or whatever.

I think there would have to have been some evidence he did it by the way that the guards missed. Blood splatter somewhere on clothes or in the car. There was about 40 minutes between the car going in and out on the CCTV so him murdering, cleaning up perfectly in that time is just not possible imo.