THE children of a Co Louth couple who died in a murder-suicide in 2015 have said they "lived with our father's mental illness all our lives".
Jim Quigley is believed to have murdered his wife in her bedroom before he died in a crash after driving the wrong way on the M1 motorway between Dundalk and Drogheda in July 2015.
Lorry driver Harry McNeill Legg from outside Larne in Co Antrim suffered minor injuries when Mr Quigley veered into the path of his truck.
Following yesterday's inquest into the couple's deaths, their four children released a statement saying they live with "this tragedy every minute of every day".
Dundalk Coroner's Court heard that the couple's son Kieran went to the family home at Newtownbalregan, Co Louth, when his father did not meet him at a DOE test centre in Dundalk on July 27 2015.
When he arrived, his mother's door was locked and he called the emergency services. He, his uncle and cousin later broke down the door.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy said Mrs Quigley had been attacked while in bed.
The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing for Mrs Quigley and an open verdict on her husband.
In a statement issued through their solicitor, the Quigley children Kieran, Sonya, Mark and Gavin said: "We lived with our father's mental illness all our lives. In recent years our father had some major physical problems and coupled with the enormous medication along with his mental health problems, we now know he was beyond helping.
"Jim was a loving father and husband, and Marie, a dearly loved and devoted wife and mother who supported Jim throughout his illness and that is why she isn't here today.
"Mental health is a form of disease which is sometimes not visibly noticeable and which this country is rampant with, but it should not be ignored."
