Donegal man found guilty of murdering wife

A man has been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of his estranged wife.

A man has been found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of the murder of his estranged wife.

Gary McCrea (40), of Laghey, Co Donegal, had denied murdering Dolores McCrea (39) and burning her body at the family home.

The jury deliberated for four-and-a-half hours before returning a unanimous verdict.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy had told the three-week long trial that the cause of death could not be established because the body had been so badly burned.

READ MORE

The trial heard the couple's marriage broke up in August 2003 and that Dolores moved out of the family home with her four daughters, who were then aged 18, 14, seven and five.

On January 20th, 2004 - the day she disappeared - Ms McCrea left her home in Ballintra in her car to play darts in Donegal town but never arrived, the court heard.

Dolores had said she was going to call on her estranged husband that evening to collect money for the car, which she was going to sell to him. The following day, Ms McCrea's children raised the alarm when she did not return home.

When gardaí arrived at the accused's home, McCrea alleged his wife called for the money for the Peugeot and was collected in a silver car.

On January 22nd, 2004, however, gardaí began looking around the McCrea farm, where they found the smouldering remains of a fire, which contained badly charred human bones.

The jury heard McCrea had taken 20 quad tyres to his farm to allegedly burn bushes the week before the murder and had bought two large drums of diesel at a local garage on the day of her disappearance.