Weeks after leaving, is Pete Taylor back again?
PETE Taylor was spotted back in Ireland this week – less that a fortnight after the boxing coach and his girlfriend relocated to the UK for a fresh start.
The father of Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor was seen in the A&E ward of St Vincent’s hospital on Wednesday evening, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. Three months ago, Mr Taylor was wounded in the arm and chest during the earlymorning incident at Bray Boxing Club on June 5. His friend Bobby Messett, 50, was killed by a lone gunman while a third man, Ian Britton, was shot in the legs.
It is unclear if the boxing coach has returned to Ireland permanently, or was just back for a medical appointment, though medical appointments are not generally run through A&E.
He was in ‘good spirits’ in the hospital on Wednesday evening, chatting to people who approached him, sources say.
On August 27, it was announced that Taylor and his partner Karen Brown had left Ireland after what they called a ‘turbulent summer’. At the time Ms Brown said that the couple were moving overseas and planned to ‘seize’ new opportunities.
Ms Brown announced their fresh start by sharing a photo on her Instagram account of the couple at Dublin Airport.
The couple chose to relocate to the UK. English-born Mr Taylor only moved to Dublin in 1975. Katie was born in 1986.
Reflecting on the couple’s decision, Ms Brown wrote: ‘After a turbulent summer, we embark on a different journey to a final destination that we will call home.
‘Just another chapter in life, beaming with opportunities which we will seize.
‘The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.’ Mr Taylor has previously praised his long-term partner for aiding his recovery.
He said in a social media post earlier last month: ‘The biggest credit for my recovery to date is my personal “nurse” Karen, for never letting me down, helping me more than she knows and for being a pillar of support.’
In a series of interviews, he spoke about how much his life had changed in the wake of the shooting.
Mr Taylor has previously spoken out to say that he was not the target of the shooting. He also revealed that he was injured because he ‘ran at’ the gunman.
However, security sources believe that while Mr Taylor is not involved in crime, he was the intended target in the attack.
On the day of the shooting, the gunman fled from the scene in a silver Volkswagen Caddy. The handgun used in the attack has not been recovered. Gardaí believe they know the identity of the shooter but he has not yet been arrested.
Attempts to contact Mr Taylor last night were unsuccsesful.