Victim’s family: Tell us why
IN A statement, Mr Corrigan’s partner Marie Bailey said: “Gerry was my partner in life, my best friend; he meant the world to me.
“Every day I am faced with the reality of no Gerry Corrigan in my life any more.
“Each day my heart is broken, I feel it is breaking again and I can do nothing.
“For Gerry’s family and friends, I am sorry we have lost him, our lives poorer and somehow empty without him.
“To that sad, twisted broken soul who murdered him, I say if you have an ounce of humanity, any sense of decency then you would tell us now why you have done this. To you, I will say this – I am sorry for you and you have been given what you deserve.”
She urged anyone who might know why Whall had carried out the murder to come forward.
DCI Kearney said: “We really want the Corrigan family to have the answers to understand why someone has so brutally executed their partner, their father.”
Mr Corrigan’s daughter Fiona in a statement said nothing could prepare her for “a 7am telephone call on a bank holiday weekend to tell you your dad has been shot. The mental torture of having a loved one in critical care is not something I’d wish on anyone. Being given a glimmer of hope just because for that hour they had stabilised his blood pressure, only to have it dashed because of the reality of the situation.
“The injuries caused by a crossbow are not designed just to kill, they are designed to mutilate. The particular weapon is designed for hunting to bring down game and that is what my dad became: Prey. We may never know why.”
She said her dad was “just an average bloke enjoying his retirement”.
“He enjoyed a liein, a nice cup of tea and reading books. He loved Laurel and Hardy films and photographing flowers and mountains. Our lives won’t be the same without him.”
Police said a parallel fraud investigation was ongoing (see panel, facing page) after claims the pensioner and his partner, Marie Bailey, 64, handed over £250,000 to convicted fraudster Richard Wyn Lewis, before Mr Corrigan’s death. The court heard evidence Whall and co-defendant Gavin Jones, 36, who were both convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for a plot to set fire to Whall’s car, were also involved in a dispute over money with Mr Lewis.