Gallagher brothers dad facing eviction
Estranged father of Oasis Liam and Noel may relocate to childhood Irish village
I’m sure their stomach will churn when they find out what is happening TOMMY GALLAGHER MANCHESTER YESTERDAY
Tommy Gallagher has been embroiled in a bitter legal dispute over the fate of his semi-detached home in Burnage, where the Oasis brothers grew up.
Despite a judge ruling that on the balance of probabilities the 77-year-old has been the victim of “fraud”, the sale of the Ashburn Avenue property has been allowed to stand.
Mr Gallagher, who separated from Noel and Liam’s mum Peggy when they were children, is planning to appeal the decision, but says he is resigned to losing the house he’s lived in since 1972.
Despite being estranged from his rock star sons for a number of decades, he added he wants to make them aware of his predicament.
Asked what he’d say to his sons, Mr Gallagher said: “It will upset them. I’m sure their stomach will churn when they find out what’s happening.
“If they want to come and buy the house, they can come and buy the house.
“You always love the place you were born in, don’t you?
“Where you played with the kids, played football, went to school, them still being big time Man City fans, they can never get away from that.”
Mr Gallagher is still living in the threebedroom property and doesn’t know when he might be evicted.
The former builder is considering moving back to his childhood home in the village of Duleek, but says coronavirus restrictions make that difficult.
Liam and Noel’s mother Peggy comes from Charlestown in Co Mayo.
In the meantime, Mr Gallagher said he’s living under a cloud of uncertainty.
He added: “It’s like hanging on a rope, waiting for someone to let it go.
“It feels like I’m drowning every minute. I’ve never had a feeling like this before in my life. I worked hard on that house. I would come home from a hard day’s work and I’d jump up a ladder to fix the roof. I never stopped.
“It’s terrible. I don’t like talking to people I know about it. It’s OK talking to a stranger, but talking to someone I know, it’s very difficult because of all the memories.”
Mr Gallagher faced having the house repossessed when his mortgage deal expired, leaving him with £27,000 outstanding and no way to pay it.
He launched civil proceedings after selling his home in 2017 where he claimed in court Thomas Keenan, said to be a childhood pal of Noel’s, suggested his brother Ricky Keenan might be able to buy his house for him.
As part of the deal, Mr Gallagher claimed it was agreed he could live in the property rent-free for the rest of his life.
But it is claimed he actually signed papers agreeing to pay £650-a-month in rent – which he denied.
The home was sold in January 2017 and is now owned by Hanna Property Company Ltd.
In his findings, Judge Colin Green said the house was sold as part of an “elaborate scheme” in which Ricky Keenan “represented” that Hanna Property was his company and assured Mr Gallagher he could live there rent-free and would be paid further sums of money over the following year.
In fact, Mr Keenan wasn’t connected to Hanna and shared a £56,000 “finder’s fee” following the sale.
The judge’s ruling read: “Although I have made a finding of fraud committed against Mr Gallagher, I have also found that this was not carried out by or on behalf of Hanna.”