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Valerie French Kilroy found dead in foetal position in camper van, court told

Garda witness tells murder trial of James Kilroy couple’s three children found hungry, dehydrated and distressed

Park ranger James Kilroy (49) is charged with murdering occupational therapist Ms French Kilroy (41) at their home between June 13th 2019 and June 14th 2019

Alison O'Riordan
Thu Mar 9 2023 - 15:13

Gardaí found a mother-of-three lying dead in the foetal position on the floor of a campervan with her bloodied hand protruding outside the sliding door and a child’s car seat over her face, a murder trial has heard.

A Central Criminal Court jury heard on Thursday that Valerie French Kilroy’s three children were found in their rural home hungry and “very dehydrated”. One child requested Kellogg’s Coco Pops, which a garda witness went out to buy.

A consultant psychiatrist from Mayo Mental Health Services who assessed James Kilroy, the accused, before his wife’s body was found decided he should not be detained in the mental health unit as he did not meet the legal criteria for a mental disorder, the trial also heard.

Mr Kilroy told Dr Camilla Curtis that killing Ms French Kilroy “wasn’t part of the plan” and said he had stabbed her in the throat using a kitchen knife. He also said he had no choice but to kill his wife as it was God’s choice.

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The accused (49), with an address at Kilbree Lower, Westport, Co Mayo, is charged with murdering Ms French Kilroy (41) at their home between June 13th, 2019 and June 14th, 2019. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Patrick Gageby SC, defending Mr Kilroy, has made a number of formal admissions to the court on behalf of his client including that he killed his wife Valerie.

‘Made confessions’

Garda Colm Boyle told Anne Marie Lawlor SC, prosecuting, on Thursday that he was informed the accused had “made confessions” to his colleague Garda Leanne Nallen on the afternoon of June 14th “that he had murdered his wife and kids”.

Garda Boyle went with Sgt Kieran McGinty to the Kilroy home where he found three young and extremely distressed children crying loudly, with Garda Nallen trying to comfort them.

“With the information we had received there was a possibility of three or four bodies, obviously when we saw the children were ok our attention focused on the whereabouts of Ms French Kilroy,” he said.

The witness said he commenced a search of the house and went into one of the children’s bedrooms but could find no body there. There was no body in the next bedroom which was very untidy with bed sheets thrown on the ground.

Garda Boyle went to the downstairs bathroom after he was informed about blood splatter there. Gardai quickly ascertained that Ms French Kilroy was not in the house.

He then went outside to the farmyard where he saw a green old-style camper van in a shed.

“A wooden type chair was blocking my path so I walked around the front of the vehicle, when I walked I could see a hand hanging out the sliding door. It had three rings on the ring finger and a gash to the wrist,” he said.

The body was that of Ms French Kilroy. “I couldn’t see her face as a [child’s] car seat was placed over it,” he said.

The witness alerted Sgt McGinty and agreed with Ms Lawlor that it was immediately apparent it had been a violent death.

Extremely hungry child

Garda Boyle said the three children were very dehydrated and he was informed by his colleagues that there was no food in the house. The witness went to the local Texaco garage to buy Kellogg’s Coco Pops which one of the children had requested as well as milk, fizzy drinks and chocolate.

“I sat with one of the children when he was eating the Coco Pops and it was apparent to me that he was extremely hungry and it had been a substantial amount of time since he had eaten,” he recalled.

Under cross-examination, Garda Boyle told Mr Gageby that he met Mr Kilroy earlier that day when the accused was “in complete nakedness” and covered in scrapes. The accused told the witness his name, said he had been on a pilgrimage of penance to Croagh Patrick and that he had to do it because of what he had done.

Mr Kilroy claimed his clothes had come off him as he was trying to get out of a tunnel and that he appeared very confused.

Michael D Hourigan BL, prosecuting, read a statement from Sgt McGinty, who said that he saw clumps of hair and a hair trimmer around the sink in the Kilroy house on June 14th when he looked through a bathroom window.

The witness went to an open shed when Garda Boyle shouted at him and observed blood on the concrete at the rear of a campervan. Inside the vehicle, he observed a female body, who he now knows to be Ms French Kilroy, wearing black jeans and wine coloured boots. She was lying in a foetal position on the floor, the body was facing forward and the left hand, which was covered in blood, was protruding outside the door.

There was a lot of blood on the ground, a car seat was concealing the head and the rear window of the van was smashed. When Sgt McGinty checked the body there was no sign of life and he stepped away from the van at 3.06pm.

On June 25th, 2019, Sgt McGinty found clothing including a black sock, blue underpants and waterproof trousers pushed into a space in between rocks at Dooncastle in Westport. There was a stone placed on top of the clothing.

Evidence has been given that a man rang gardaí at 9.40am on June 14th to say he had observed a naked man, who turned out to be Mr Kilroy, in a field in front of his house at Derrygorman in Westport.

Head in hands

Earlier, consultant psychiatrist Dr Camilla Curtis from Mayo Mental Health Services told Ms Lawlor she assessed the accused on June 14th at Mayo University Hospital. She was made aware that the patient was arriving into the emergency department by ambulance and when she first saw Mr Kilroy he was holding his head in his hands.

Dr Curtis said the purpose of her examining the accused was to determine if he fulfilled the criteria under the Mental Health Act to be admitted as an involuntary mental health patient. She said Mr Kilroy did not meet the criteria.

Mr Kilroy told her he was experiencing visual hallucinations and could see the dead. He also believed his wife was working against him and trying to harm him. He was not sure if he had harmed or killed her and was acting illogically, saying the world would end in 55 years time, she said.

Dr Curtis queried the patient about his use of drugs and he admitted using cannabis but said he had not done so for 10 days and used to grow it. He said he would use the drug every two days and was smoking it for the past 19 years. He also said he had been prescribed medication for psychosis.

Asked where Ms French Kilroy was, the accused said he left her in the van as she was turning into a zombie and he felt the dead were going to get him. He denied hearing voices.

He said there was no change in his mood and denied having thoughts of self-harm or suicide. He also said he had no choice but to kill Valerie as it was God’s choice. When asked if he would regret it, the accused was unable to respond and would not say yes or no, she said.

Dr Curtis said Mr Kilroy appeared perplexed, guarded and occasionally suspicious. There was no evidence of agitation, aggression or restlessness and he was coherent. There was also no evidence of acute depression or elation in mood, she said. He denied any current thoughts of harming others, was unable to clarify if he had harmed others and his thoughts were “muddled”.

Did not meet criteria

Dr Curtis decided the accused should not be detained as she was not satisfied that he met the legal criteria for a mental disorder.

Under cross-examination, Dr Curtis agreed with Mr Gageby it had been established that two of the accused’s children were safe before she discharged him but it was not clear whether the third child and Ms French Kilroy were. She also agreed that there was a strong possibility that he might have killed his wife.

Dr Curtis further agreed that the accused believed his wife was working against him and trying to harm him. At that stage Mr Kilroy said he was on a mission from God to kill his wife. When asked if he fulfilled that mission, the defendant said he did not know.

The witness told Mr Gageby that she had offered her opinion on his fitness to be interviewed by gardai and said she was satisfied that he was suffering from acute psychotic symptoms and was currently unwell but was not showing any signs of intoxication or withdrawal symptoms.

The trial continues on Friday before Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring and a jury of 10 men and two women.

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