‘HE PLANNED MURDER OF CLODAGH AND BOYS’
VICTIM’S MOTHER SAYS HAWE MOVED MONEY AFTER KILLING FAMILY
THE family of Clodagh Hawe believe her husband planned the murder of his family and even calmly transferred money from their joint account after the killing.
Clodagh (39) and her children Liam (14), Niall (11) and Ryan (6) were murdered by Alan Hawe in their home near Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, on August 29 last year. Hawe then took his own life.
Clodagh’s heartbroken mother Mary Coll has spoken for the first time, in an interview in today’s Irish Independent, about the circumstances surrounding the horrific death of her eldest daughter and three grandsons.
The Coll family believe that school vice-principal Hawe’s actions were coldly planned, premeditated and not the actions of someone who just suddenly had a breakdown.
After killing his wife with a knife and a hatchet, and then taking the lives of their sons, Alan Hawe used a computer to transfer money from the couple’s joint account to his own account.
He then laid out details of all the couple’s bank accounts and financial affairs to be found by whoever came into the house.
He also placed all of Clodagh’s jewellery neatly on the bed. Before he killed himself, he wrote a note and stuck it to the back door.
“Don’t come in. Call the gardai,” it said.
Clodagh’s family said that the beautiful mother was clearly unaware of her husband’s plan and had been innocently researching a family holiday online, according to the computer history.
They believe the walls were closing in on Hawe — that he was about to suffer a fall from grace. The Colls said the man who was excessively “controlling” of Clodagh was seeing a counsellor and having difficulty at work when he murdered his wife, their three sons, and then took his own life. One year later, Clodagh’s devastated family have decided that silence won’t heal or explain the awful events in the townland of Castlerahan. They say the truth behind what happened on that dark Sunday will soon be known to all.
“He looked like the ideal husband, but he was a controlling kind of person,” Mary said.
“I would ask Clodagh if she would like to go shopping in Dublin and she would have to run it by him first. He could be as controlling with his silence as he could be with his words.”
On the Sunday, the night before their bodies were found, the Hawe family had visited Clodagh’s mother Mary Coll in the town of Virginia.
Arrangements were made that Clodagh would call the next morning with Niall and Ryan and drop them off around 8.30am. “I had planned to go picking blackberries with them on the Monday,” said Mary.
But that morning Clodagh and the boys never arrived.
“I rang and texted both Clodagh and Alan, but there was nothing back. It was so out of character I knew there was something wrong,” said Mary, seated at her kitchen table with her daughter Jacqueline.
“Coming up on 10am I decided to go over to the house.
“When I arrived and saw the curtains drawn and the cars in the driveway I knew there was something wrong. I ran from the car to the back door and I was just about to put the key in the lock when I saw the note.”
Mary went to the neighbour’s house while the gardai entered her daughter’s home.
“Within minutes they were back. They told us there were five bodies in the house, no survivors,” said Mary.
Only later did it emerge how the family had died and the level of violence used to kill them.
Having killed his family, Alan then set about dealing with the family’s affairs, knowing his next action would be to end his own life.
“There was a three-page letter in an envelope in which he outlined why he had done what he had done. We can’t go into the full details at the moment and expect that to come out at the inquest in October,” said Mary. “
“There was another letter with bloodstains on it that he must have written afterwards. He was about to experience a fall from grace and lose the air of respectability he felt he had in the community. He said in the letter that Clodagh didn’t know anything about this, and they were happy together.
“He laid out the folders of all their financial affairs, and neatly arranged Clodagh’s jewellery on the bed. One of the last acts before he died was to use the computer to transfer money from their joint account to his own account.
“Then he stuck the note on the back door and went back into the house and killed himself.”
Questions are now arising as to what will happen to the house, the cars, the belongings. For the family, they are tangible links to their loved ones. From a cold legal perspective they are assets, the estate.
“We don’t want anything from their estate. But we feel the best use of it in the circumstances is that the entire proceeds could go to a charity like the Cavan Lighthouse, a family aid refuge set up in memory of Clodagh and the boys,” said Jacqueline.
The women are fundraising for Cavan Lighthouse, which they hope will provide refuge for victims of domestic violence.
Donations can be made at www.ifundraise.ie/3169_cavan-lighthouse-.html
The gardai told us there were five bodies in the house, no survivors