Ireland

Deaths of Hawe family are latest in a series of murder-suicides

Arthur McElhill and Lorraine McGovern with their children from L-R James, Caroline, Bellina, Sean and Clodagh
Arthur McElhill and Lorraine McGovern with their children from L-R James, Caroline, Bellina, Sean and Clodagh Arthur McElhill and Lorraine McGovern with their children from L-R James, Caroline, Bellina, Sean and Clodagh

THE deaths of the Hawe family in Co Cavan are the latest in a series of murder-suicides in Ireland.

One of the most high-profile cases happened in November 2007 when convicted sex offender Arthur McElhill killed himself and his family in a house fire in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

McElhill, Ms McGovern and their five children died in the blaze at Lammy Crescent in November 2007.

A coroner found McElhill burned the house down because his partner, Lorraine McGovern, threatened to leave him.

Just last month, 28-year-old father Marco Velocci and his three-year-old son Alex died in a suspected murder-suicide in Co Limerick.

The pair died when their car collided with a truck on the N24 between Pallasgreen and Oola, on the Limerick-Tipperary border, at around 8.30am on July 19.

Gardai said Mr Velocci's ex-partner Jodie Power (26), Alex's mother, was attacked at her home in Oola, Co Limerick, shortly before the crash.

In July last year, father-of-four Jim Quigley (69), from Newtownbalregan near Dundalk, Co Louth, murdered his wife Marie then killed himself when he drove his car into the path of a lorry on the M1 between Dundalk and Drogheda.

The badly beaten body of Mrs Quigley was discovered by the couple's son Kieran in an upstairs bedroom of their home in Rathmore, Hackballscross, shortly after the car crash.

In December 2014, Michael Greaney (53) stabbed his wife Valerie (49) to death before killing himself at their home in Cobh, Co Cork. The couple's eldest daughter Michelle (21) was also stabbed in the attack but survived.

In November 2010, John Butler (43) killed his daughters Zoe (6) and Ella (2) at their home in Ballycotton, Co Cork, before taking his own life.

Mr Butler was suffering from depression when he killed the girls before crashing his petrol-soaked car into a ditch a mile from the family home.

In April 2008, Diarmuid Flood (41) smothered his two children Mark (six) and Julie (five) at their home Clonroche, Co Wexford, before shooting his wife Lorraine dead.

The previous year, another Co Wexford family was killed in a murder-suicide.

Adrian Dunne (29), his wife Ciara (26), and children, Leanne (five), and three-year-old Shania, were found dead at their home in Monageer.

Gardaí believe Mr Dunne strangled his wife and suffocated his two daughters before hanging himself. It later emerged the Dunnes had specified which coffins they wanted to be buried in before their deaths.