A DOCTOR who faces jail for defrauding an Alzheimer's patient of £10,000 was the GP who saw Arthur McElhill in the weeks before the Omagh father killed his family and himself in a house fire.
Dr Michelle Mellotte had treated McElhill for depression, but told the inquests in to the deaths of McElhill, his partner Lorraine McGovern and their five children that she had had "no concerns" about his state of mind during an appointment two months before the murders.
McElhill, who was a convicted sex offender, burned down the family home in November 2007.
His eldest daughter, Caroline (13) made a frantic 999 call for help, but he refused all offers of assistance from neighbours who tried to rescue the family from the smoke and flames.
Dr Mellotte told the coroner's court McElhill had been "down and depressed and generally finding things difficult" when attending her practice in September 2007.
She said she had prescribed anti-depressants, but added he had not appeared to be suicidal on his last visit during which she asked him questions designed to find out if he was suicidal or homicidal, but the answers raised "no concerns".
She confirmed he had failed to appear for an appointment in October.
The 61-year-old physician, who has pleaded guilty to abusing the trust of a pensioner to steal from the elderly patient from Kesh, Co Fermanagh, between January 2010 and April 2011.
Dr Mellotte, who lives in Bannagh Beg Road in Kesh and now practices in Fermanagh, made an "arrangement" for a loan between her and the pensioner, described as a "vulnerable individual with ailing mental and physical health".
The doctor has since paid back the money.
Omagh councillor Chris Smyth said former patients would be astonished to hear Dr Mellotte's name again under such circumstances.
"It's an unbelievable breach of trust," he said.
"People trust their doctors and confide in them, to abuse that trust destroys the confidence the whole system is built on."
