Tragic Rachel’s devoted dad Jim dies suddenly
Callaly family mourns sad loss of ‘gentleman’
THE father of murdered mum Rachel Callaly is to be laid to rest next week after he died suddenly on Thursday.
Devoted Jim Callaly has been described as an “absolute gentleman” following his passing at home in Dublin.
The beloved father and grandfather had campaigned tirelessly for justice for Rachel after she was murdered by evil husband Joe O’reilly in 2004.
Jim and his wife Rose spent the last 20 years working to stop their daughter’s killer, who remains behind bars serving a life sentence, from getting parole.
Retired detective inspector, Pat Marry, who led the landmark investigation into Rachel’s murder, paid tribute to Mr Callaly yesterday.
Mr Marry said: “He is going to be a huge loss to Rose and his family. He was an absolute and utter gentleman.”
Rachel, 30, a mother-of-two, had just dropped the children off to school and creche when she was murdered.
O’reilly, 51, attacked her with what was believed to be dumbbells and staged her death to look like a violent burglary.
O’reilly tricked his mother-in-law into finding Rachel’s body later that day, faking concerns that Rachel had not picked up the children from school.
His efforts to convince Rachel’s family that she was killed during a burglary ended up raising their suspicions that he was involved.
In a crucial breakthrough, detectives analysed calls on his mobile phone and discovered he had lied about his movements that morning.
O’reilly had pretended he was at work but his phone records put him close to his home at the time Rachel was murdered. Detectives also
discovered that he had been having an affair. O’reilly was convicted of Rachel’s murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007.
Jim Callaly, along with Rose, fought tooth and nail to keep O’reilly in jail after his conviction.
He has applied four times for parole, most recently last year, but each time the Callaly family successfully objected to his release.
Speaking about evil Joe, Jim said: “He took our Rachel’s life. I don’t think he should be allowed out.
“He has no moral compass and is still as arrogant as ever. He never admitted what he did and there is no remorse.”
He added: “It was a fierce shock to think somebody you knew did it.
“Someone who was sitting in your house with you during the week and they used to come down and have meals with us after the murder and that.
“He [O’reilly] used to bring my son out, he was interested in going to look at films, they used to go out together. And then the police used to call down to us and tell us how progress was going and he said: ‘We have to tell you that O’reilly is the number one suspect, he’s the killer.’
“So then, we were worried about our son going out with him at night to see films. I used to say to Rose we’d have to stop that. And then the police said, ‘No, don’t because sometimes when they think they’re not under suspicion they let things drop or give their game away.’
“So we let them go out a few more times but it got unbearable to know that he was going out with him [their son]. So we had to sit him [ Joe] down one evening and tell him that he was the killer. And sure he ran out the door.”
A post on RIP.IE yesterday said Jim died suddenly at his home on Thursday.
He will be sadly missed by his loving wife Rose, brothers, sons, daughters-inlaw and grandchildren.
His funeral is set to take place on Wednesday.
He [Jim] was an absolute and utter gentleman PAT MARRY RETIRED DETECTIVE INSPECTOR