He was evil to the core ...he might never get out of jail
Retired detective predicts 30yrs for wife killer
EVIL wife killer Joe O’reilly will serve at least 30 years behind bars, according to the cop who nailed him for murder.
Retired detective Pat Marry, who solved some of Ireland’s most highprofile killings, said he suspects O’reilly will not be freed any time soon.
The 6ft 4in brute bludgeoned his wife Rachel to death with a dumbell at their home at the Naul, North Dublin, in October 2004.
O’reilly, 51, was jailed for life in 2007 and is locked up in the Midlands Prison. But he is due before the parole board any day now as he makes his fourth bid for freedom.
Mr Marry said: “The average for life is 18 to 23 years but people do serve a lot longer than that. I suspect Joe O’reilly will serve maybe 30 years, and hopefully never gets out.
“He was evil, evil to the core and if he got out could he do it again? Yes he could. To my mind Joe O’reilly is an evil person.”
HAUNTS
The seasoned detective was one of the first at the scene of the murder and said what he witnessed haunts him to this day.
Rachel’s distraught mother Rose found her body in the bedroom and the mum-of-two was so badly beaten Rose couldn’t tell if she was lying face up or face down.
Mr Marry said: “It was a really savage assault and that was shocking to me, and I’ve seen a lot of dead bodies and a lot of ladies who’ve been murdered by their husband.
“But this was really horrific. The degree of savagery, whoever did this to this woman hated her.”
Joe O’reilly’s case features in the first episode of a new true crime documentary series on Sky called Ireland’s Most Evil Killers.
The series will also examine four other infamous cases – wife killer Colin Whelan, Black Widow Catherine Nevin, Scissor Sisters Charlotte and Linda Mulhall, and Eric Locke.
In the opening episode Rachel’s brother Paul Callaly brands O’reilly “barbaric” and says the family “hope he rots in prison”.
He recalls how O’reilly tried to cover his tracks by staging a burglary then went on national television playing the role of the grieving widower.
He said: “Joe basically just washed his hands of the funeral, he didn’t want anything to do with it. He didn’t even want to pay for his wife’s funeral. The day of the funeral was a very emotional day but that is when he went into his showbiz mode.
“When he got up and did his eulogy it was like an Oscar speech up there.
“Like it was really all about him and that was noticeable even in our grief.”
Paul said it was when twisted O’reilly re-enacted the murder in front of the family, in the very spot where he’d battered Rachel to death, they realised he’d done it. The sicko even went into the adjoining bathroom and told them how the killer “might have washed his hands then heard her gurgling and went back in to finish her off ”. Paul said: “My father was hesitant to come to this conclusion but the other three of us said, ‘He’s just admitted it’. We knew in our hearts that he had murdered Rachel, we just had to play the waiting game then and hope to god the police could get him, catch him.”
O’reilly was arrested twice and it took three years to build a case and secure a conviction. He has since attempted multiple appeals and parole bids.
Paul said: “He was found guilty, he did his seven years and every two years after that he’s applied for parole.
“What we’ve to do as a family then is every two years when they contact us we’ve to write letters and send
We knew in our hearts that he had murdered Rachel, we just had to hope to god the police could catch him
them and say why we think he should stay in jail.
“It just seems a bit unfair that we’re not actually the guilty party here and yet we’ve to beg to keep him in jail.”
WONDERFUL
Paul described Rachel as a wonderful mother and said her two sons were “the pinnacle of her life”.
He added: “He didn’t just take our sister, he took their mother, which to me I think that’s barbaric. No matter how much you hate someone it’s a terrible legacy to leave those kids. Their mother was murdered and their father did it.
“Rachel had endless possibilities, like she was such a doer, such a giver, such a great mother, great sister, great daughter.
“She could have done anything in life, he just cut her dead and all that possibility was lost. We all hope he rots in prison.”
Ireland’s Most Evil Killers premieres on Sky Crime and NOW on Thursday, October 19.