Inquest into death of tycoon JP McManus’s daughter-in-law will go ahead in Barbados
AN inquest into the tragic death of tycoon JP McManus’s daughter-in-law Emma can go ahead in Barbados, a court has ruled.
Her husband John Paul McManus had made a legal bid to have the inquest into her death at their luxury Sandy Lane resort, shortly after Christmas 2020, stopped by the High Court.
However, Judge Shona Griffith yesterday ruled that the hearing can go ahead, but left it up to the coroner to decide if the case will be heard in public or behind closed doors.
Mother-of-three Emma McManus, 40, was found dead on December 30, 2020, by her husband John Paul, in the bedroom of their residence on the Caribbean island.
A resumed inquest was due to hear toxicology
Couple were childhood sweethearts
evidence in February 2021, but was temporarily halted following a court application for it to be held in private.
It was alleged, at the opening of the inquest in February 2021, that John Paul had told how the couple had been doing ‘a little cocaine’ in a phone call with the investigating magistrate, a remark which he later strongly denied making.
At a previous inquest hearing, there was a conflict between the coroner, Magistrate Graveney Bannister, and John Paul McManus about a phone call allegedly made shortly after his wife’s death when the cocaine remark was allegedly made.
John Paul McManus denied under oath he had told Magistrate Bannister during the phone call about cocaine. He insisted the coroner had misheard him.
Magistrate Bannister, who is also a priest, said Mr McManus had told an official in the coroner’s office the same thing, which was also denied by Mr McManus, who said he would happily take a test for the drug to prove he was right.
During that hearing, Magistrate Bannister apologised to those present in the Coroner’s Court, saying the proceedings would not be able to go ahead because of an application being brought by the McManus family.
Emma and her family had been enjoying a Christmas break at the JP McManus-owned luxury resort when the tragedy occurred.
Emma was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, while John Paul is a former student at Glenstal Abbey in Murroe, Co. Limerick. The couple were childhood sweethearts in Limerick, but started formally dating in their 20s before marrying in Portugal in 2010, with their friends Brett Desmond and wife Andrea Corr among the guests.
They lived together in a luxury home in London, believed to be worth €100million after the couple carried out extensive renovations.
The property is located in The Boltons, one of the most exclusive areas of Chelsea. Some 10% of London’s super-prime sales in recent years have taken place in The Boltons, and the area has previously been home to pop icon Madonna, disgraced author Jeffrey Archer and American actor Douglas Fairbanks.
Emma’s parents are Paula and Peter Ledbetter, of Blackrock in Dublin. Peter is an ex-international tennis player who cut his business teeth with Tony Ryan’s GPA.
John Paul was the last of JP’s three children to get married. His sister Sue Ann married Cian Foley in 2007, and golfer Tiger Woods was among the 1,500 guests invited to the lavish bash at Martinstown, near Kilmallock in Co. Limerick.
Businessman JP’s fortune was estimated at more than €1billion in the Sunday Times rich list, although his family’s fortune is said to be much more.