Murder accused Joe O'Reilly suspected that a workman from a cable television company had killed his wife, a jury in the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.
Philip Brown, the managing director of the outdoor advertising company in which Mr O'Reilly worked, gave evidence of meeting the accused for lunch on October 26th. He said that when he met Mr O'Reilly in the Shelbourne Hotel, there was "quite a lot of discussion about the death of his wife". He said Mr O'Reilly told him he had "one or two suspicions" about who the murderer was.
"He suspected there may have been a man who worked for NTL who he had asked to come and install cable in the house," he said.
"He was querying why the police weren't investigating that man." He said Mr O'Reilly was also worried that because he had hugged his dead wife at the scene, he might have destroyed evidence.
"He said it was a really distressing scene and that he embraced his wife. He was concerned that may have compromised the forensic evidence."
Under cross-examination by Patrick Gageby SC, defending, Mr Brown said he was sure the accused referred to a man from NTL and not Sky.
Forensic scientist Dr Diane Daly told the court that when she went to the scene of the killing, she found Mrs O'Reilly's body "lying on her back on the ground with her upper body twisted to one side". She said her head and hair were "heavily bloodstained" and there was a "pool of blood" beside her.
She said there was so much blood she could not see the injuries or the pattern on her clothing. She also noted a clump of severed hair next to the body. She said there was blood in the main bedroom, the children's bedroom, hallway and bathroom.
Dr Daly used a technique called "blood pattern analysis" to give clues as to the sequence of the attack. "The interpretation of these blood stain patterns can give very important analysis," she said.
She said "cast-off blood staining" on the ceiling above the victim's head indicated she was "violently beaten for a sustained period of time while she was lying on the ground". She also concluded the victim's "bloodied head" had been "moved from the position close to the door, to the position in which she was now lying". No semen was found on the body. She said the assailant was at some time during the assault, crouching or kneeling because of "directional blood-spattering beside the head of the body".
At a later date, she was given a number of items for forensic examination. Among them were adult clothing, a jewellery box, camcorder and bag, and a black glove. In relation to items belonging to the accused, she found blood on a right boot of Mr O'Reilly's but no blood or anything of "evidential value" was found in his car.