Eamonn Lillis, jailed for killing his wife Celine Cawley in 2008, flew to the UK on Saturday after he was released from Wheatfield Prison in Dublin. He was released at about 9.40am and got into a waiting maroon-coloured taxi outside the prison. He then travelled to Dublin Airport .
At the airport, Mr Lillis was met by journalists and, when asked for comment, he said: “I have served my time.” After buying some items in duty free, he boarded a flight to Southampton, where it is understood he will stay with his sister.
He was to have been released on Friday, on a temporary release order, but he refused to consent to the move, apparently because of the large media presence outside the prison, opting to stay inside until Saturday.
Mr Lillis (57) was jailed for six years and 11 months in February 2010. A model prisoner according to sources, he was entitled to remission of 25 per cent. He served just under five years and two months. Mr Lillis killed his wife during a row at the family home on Windgate Road in the north Dublin suburb of Howth in December 2008.
For much of his five years in prison, he was involved in litigation with his now adult daughter, Georgia, and Ms Cawley’s family over the estate she left behind. However, they lost their High Court battle to prevent him getting his half of the assets. In another action, he was awarded nothing from the sale of a holiday home in France.The legal battles prompted calls for new legislation to prevent those who kill their spouse from profiting in the aftermath of their crimes. The Law Reform Commission is examining the issue.
All of the cash he received following the sale of the assets arises from his share of the estate only. None of his wife’s wealth has gone to him. Waiting for him on his release was over €1 million in the bank to restart his life. The money is made up of the proceeds from the sale of the substantial home where he killed his wife, the liquidation of the company they ran and his pension lump sum from it, not to mention his share of an investment property and bonds he held with his wife.
Originally from Terenure in south Dublin, Mr Lillis was charged with murdering Ms Cawley but he was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter after the jury accepted he had not intended to kill her.
Ms Cawley (46) died in hospital at 10.56am on Monday, December 15th, after suffering blunt force trauma to the head. Mr Lillis initially told gardaí an intruder was attacking his wife in the back garden of their home when he had returned from leaving his daughter to school. It was not until the first day of a three-week trial that he conceded there was no intruder.
He claimed that after coming home from leaving his daughter to school, his wife argued with him over cleaning up after their dog and leaving bird feed out. He said they has tussled on the decking in the back garden and his wife had banged her head on the window ledge and fallen twice during what he described as a heated and physical exchange.
Mr Lillis was having an affair with his masseuse Jean Treacy but insisted that that relationship was not the reason why he had argued with his wife on the morning she died.
