Killer Dave feared he would die from cancer in prison
Mahon ‘emotional’ on return to hospital after fundraising walk
KILLER Dave Mahon has revealed that he thought he would die from cancer while in prison.
This week the 53-year-old, who spent five years in jail for the manslaughter of his stepson Dean, handed over a cheque of €350 to St Luke’s Hospital, where he was treated for cancer while imprisoned.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Mahon, who is also the stepfather of missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick, opened up for the first time about how he believed he might die from the horrific disease behind bars.
He said: “I walked into a bathroom and obviously there were three guards outside while I had a look at myself.
“I was half in the nude and I looked at myself and there were drips coming out of me and the weight had fallen off me. I looked at myself and I thought, this is it.”
Mahon, who says he has had three hip replacements, walked 100km in a month and raised €350 in honour of his brother Owen who died of cancer last January.
He also says he raised the funds as a means of thanking the doctors and nurses who also treated him for the same disease.
“It was really emotional to be honest, I was very surprised,” Mahon said of paying a visit to the hospital now that he is cancer free – and out of prison.
“My brother got cancer and he was gone within two weeks. He was a family man with kids and grandkids.
“I was treated in St Luke’s for seven weeks. I’m all clear now.
“To meet the doctors and nurses today was euphoric.”
Mahon, who recently published an autobiography titled How Much Pain Can Our Hearts Endure, says he believes the stress he and wife Audrey went through with the disappearance of Amy in Spain, and then with the killing of Dean, could have contributed to him getting cancer.
He said: “Prior to 2008, we were as healthy as anything. You couldn’t get a better lifestyle. When Amy went missing, forget about it.
“When I was in prison even a few of the inmates said it had to be from stress.
“Because I was never in prison before and next of all you wake up in a prison cell with three others.
“Plus you have to live with what’s happened.”
Mahon was handed down a seven-year sentence for Dean’s manslaughter after claiming the young man ran into a knife he was holding inside his pocket, following a row over a water bottle.
Dean and Amy’s mother Audrey has remained by Mahon’s side ever since, something he says has gotten
We did this, we did that, we dealt with everyone from Guardia to the underworld DAVE MAHON YESTERDAY
Prior to 2008 [when Amy vanished] we were as healthy as anything
DAVE MAHON
YESTERDAY
him through the hard times. He said: “I’m lucky that I have Audrey, my father and my family and the likes of those doctors and nurses that helped me. I’m privileged to be alive.”
Tragic Amy vanished from the Mijas Costa area of Spain, where she was living with Dave and Audrey on New Years Day 2008. Speaking today about the efforts he and Audrey made over the years to try and find Amy, Mahon says they tried every avenue – including dealing with the underworld.
As this paper previously reported, Mahon even met mob boss Daniel Kinahan when he lived in Spain, asking the criminal to try and find the answers he couldn’t. Mahon says he and Audrey still haven’t given up on finding answers.
He added: “There’s always something you can do.
“We did this and we did that and we dealt with everyone from the Guardia to the underworld.”