Solicitor, 54, found dead in water near his boat was being investigated by Law Society
Coroner’s open verdict due to ‘lack of evidence’
THE body of a solicitor, who was under investigation by the Law Society at the time of his death, was found in the water near his boat moored in Dún Laoghaire, an inquest has heard.
David Montgomery, 54, the managing partner in his family’s legal practice, Thomas Montgomery & Son Solicitors in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, died as a result of drowning on October 10, 2022.
A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Montgomery, a married father-oftwo from Dún Laoghaire, was reported missing by his family after he did not respond to phone calls earlier that afternoon.
His wife, Ciara McGoldrick, told the inquest yesterday she had breakfast that morning with her husband and that he told her he was going into the Four Courts to attend a trial. She said he texted her around 1pm to say that he was still at the court hearing and later again to say he had left town as the case had been settled.
Ms McGoldrick said she and her brother-in-law, Iain Montgomery, reported him missing that evening
‘Absolutely traumatic time’
when he failed to answer calls and texts. She said they went to the marina in Dún Laoghaire where they owned a boat and noticed his car was parked there. The inquest heard there were some tools on the deck of the boat and that Ms McGoldrick recalled that he had been speaking about getting the vessel ready for winter.
While they were there, she said, her husband’s body appeared in the water beside his boat.
Asked by the coroner, Clare Keane, if she had any concerns about her husband, Ms McGoldrick said he had ‘an issue’ with the Law Society which he had never discussed with her.
However, Ms McGoldrick said he would have been stressed ‘by what was going on with the Law Society’. She added she had only learnt about the matter on the day of his death, from her brother-in-law.
She said her husband had also spoken about the case he had attended in the Four Courts earlier that day ‘going badly’.
She told Dr Keane that it was ‘out of character’ for her husband not to respond to phone calls and to not be home by 6.30pm.
The inquest heard Mr Montgomery was not in the habit of wearing a lifejacket when on the boat while it was in the marina.
A paramedic, Andrew O’Toole, described how emergency services tried for 40 minutes to resuscitate him without success after his body was removed from the water.
Garda Daniel Nugent said there was no sign of anything out of place or any struggle on Mr Montgomery’s boat. His body was cold to the touch and wrinkled when taken out of the water, while there was a small amount of blood above one of his ears, the court heard.
The garda said CCTV footage showed the deceased was the only person who passed the gate of the marina that afternoon. Weather conditions were ‘calm, still and dry’. The inquest heard gardaí were uncertain how Mr Montgomery had entered the water but were satisfied it was a ‘tragic accident’. Postmortem results confirmed he had died as a result of drowning while also revealing he had moderate cardiac disease and an abrasion above an ear.
A solicitor for Ms McGoldrick, Joanelle O’Cleirigh, asked the coroner to consider returning a verdict of accidental death as Mr Montgomery had been intending to fix his boat.
However, Dr Keane said she did not have enough evidence to conclude his death was either accidental, intentional or due to misadventure.
Returning an open verdict, the coroner said it would have to be ‘a completely out-of-the blue event’ to make a finding of accidental death. While she was not making any judgement, Dr Keane noted the deceased had been ‘acting out of character’ on the day of his death. Expressing condolences to his relatives, the coroner said they had been through an ‘absolutely traumatic time’.
Last year, the High Court heard that an estimated deficit of over €1.7million had been uncovered during an investigation by the Law Society into the law firm run by Mr Montgomery and his father, William Montgomery. As a result of the investigation, the Law Society secured a number of court orders freezing assets of the firm, which was based at Anglesea Buildings in Dún Laoghaire.
The deceased, who was a practising solicitor since 1995, was managing partner at the firm from 2005 until the time of his death.
He had previously been the subject of another investigation which resulted in a High Court order in 2015 which prohibited him from being a signatory on the firm’s client account or having access to clients’ money without prior consent of the Law Society.
Shortly before his death in 2022, Mr Montgomery had told an investigating accountant appointed by the Law Society’s registrar of solicitors and director of regulation, Jim Ryan, that there was an overall deficit of around €800,000 in the client account. In a letter to the Law Society written the day after Mr Montgomery’s death, a solicitor said he was instructed by the deceased a short time earlier that he alone was responsible for the deficit in the firm’s client account. Mr Montgomery also told the solicitor that neither his father, William, nor his brother, Iain, who is also a solicitor, were aware of the deficit. He also claimed he had discharged a €475,000 mortgage on the practice’s premises with funds from the client account unknown to his father and mother, Annie, who jointly owned the building.