THE KILLER, THE WILL & THE €500K GUBU LEGACY
Connolly’s bequest to Macarthur‘s family
FORMER Attorney General Patrick Connolly has left large legacies to the expartner and son of murderer Malcolm Macarthur, who was found hiding in his plush Dalkey apartment after a massive garda manhunt in August 1982.
Mr Connolly, an eminent senior counsel, had left Ireland for a holiday in New York the following day, but was recalled by the then Taoiseach, Charles J Haughey, described the events as “grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented” (GUBU).
Macarthur had brutally murdered nurse Bridie Gargan when stealing her car in Phoenix Park, then lured Donal Dunne to his death some days later on the pretext of buying a shotgun from him, which he then used to kill the Co Offaly farmer.
According to Mr Connolly’s will, which was filed in the Probate Office in Dublin last week, Macarthur’s former partner, Brenda Little, has been left €100,000 in cash and Mr Connolly’s interest in an apartment on Sallymount Ave, Ranelagh, Dublin. Two-bed apartments in that area command prices of more than €300,000.
Ms Littles’s son with Macarthur, Colin Little, who became a close friend of Mr Connolly, was left €75,000 in cash and Mr Connolly’s “collection of cigarette trade cards and pictures”.
Patrick Connolly, of Carn who sore, Pilot View, Dalkey, Co Dublin, who died on January 7, 2016, left estate valued at €3,318,897.
Despite returning to practise at the Bar, Mr Connolly was always remembered for the events surrounding the capture of Macarthur on August 13, 1982, after a nineday manhunt.
During that time, he had brought the killer to the All-Ireland final as his guest and the fugitive had shaken hands with then Garda Commissioner Patrick McLaughlin during the halftime interval.
The trial of Macarthur in January 1983 was extremely short and equally controversial, as he pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Gargan, but charges of murdering Mr Dunne were dropped.
When the prosecution offered to outline the facts of the case, the trial judge said this was not necessary and the entire proceedings were over in an estimated seven minutes.
Mr Connolly was called to the Bar in 1949 and built up a lucrative commercial practice. He never married but was very close to his extended family.
He never spoke about the dramatic events of 1982, but his funeral Mass in Dalkey was told that he kept a meticulous diary throughout his life.
Macarthur was released from prison in September 2012 and lives in south Co Dublin.
According to his will, Mr Connolly left bequests of €10,000 to the Bar Benevolent Council, Concern, and the Society of St Vincent de Paul. He also left €2,000 to the priest in Dalkey for Masses to be said for his soul.
In the will dated December 19, 2000, he also left €100,000 each to a nephew and two nieces, and €75,000 to another named beneficiary.
The residue of his estate was left to his brother, Anthony, who has since died.
‘Macarthur had brutally murdered nurse Bridie Gargan’