A deputy headteacher’s children tried to defend themselves as he murdered them in their beds, their inquest heard yesterday.
Evil Alan Hawe killed them and their mother by cutting their throats in a way that would have stopped them crying out and alerting each other, the hearing was told.
His eldest boys Liam, 14, and Niall, 11, had defensive wounds on their hands and arms, as did their mother Clodagh.
Amid harrowing scenes, the deviousness of vice-principal Hawe’s actions was laid bare in disturbing detail by the deputy State pathologist.
Dr Michael Curtis said he believed Hawe cut Clodagh’s and two of her sons’ throats in such a way that they wouldn’t be able to utter cries for help. And all except for youngest son Ryan, aged six, suffered ‘defensive injuries’, meaning they most likely put up a struggle.
Clodagh Hawe is pictured with sons Niall, 11, Ryan, six, and Liam, 13, in Venice. All four were killed by Alan Hawe before he hanged himself
Clodagh’s bereft mother Mary Coll took the stand to deliver a heartbreaking account of the morning in August 2016 that she discovered that Hawe had killed her daughter and three grandchildren in their Co. Cavan home.
A garda also broke down as she gave details of finding the lifeless bodies of the innocent victims.
The seven-person jury at Cavan Courthouse heard Clodagh, 39, was found lying on her stomach in the family’s sitting room, in her pyjamas and dressing gown.
She had suffered severe head and neck injuries and a large amount of blood was visible under the couch. Her wounds were inflicted by Hawe wielding an axe and a knife.
The bodies of the couple’s two eldest sons, Liam and Niall, were found in separate single beds in one room upstairs. The youngest boy, Ryan, was found in an adjacent bedroom, where a weapon was found on the pillow next to his body.
The boys were found under their blood-stained duvets, with stab wounds to their necks, and there were no signs of life.
Alan Hawe, a deputy principal, his schoolteacher wife Clodagh and their three children Liam, 13, Niall, 11, and Ryan, six, were found dead in their home near Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, Ireland on the morning of Monday August 29, 2016
Forensics experts told how there were bloodstains in various parts of the house in Barcony, outside Ballyjamesduff, and also on weapons, and on notes left by Hawe.
The family’s callous killer, Alan Hawe, was found hanging from the stairs, it was heard.
Dr Curtis told the hearing that he found it ‘very difficult to believe that it’s entirely coincidental’ that three of the victims suffered wounds below the Adam’s apple that would ‘have rendered all three of them unable to make a sound’.
Members of Clodagh Hawe’s family, including her sister Jacqueline and mother Mary, broke down as the details of how Hawe murdered Clodagh and the couple’s three sons were revealed.
Dr Curtis was asked by Coroner Mary Flanagan if his examinations offered any insight into who died first. ‘It’s impossible to say with certainty,’ he said. However, he said his impression was that Hawe killed Clodagh and the eldest boy Liam initially before killing younger sons Niall and Ryan.
‘By dispatching Clodagh and the older boy first, he would have rendered the possibility of a physical challenge less likely, but I don’t have any firm evidence,’ he said.
The hearse carrying the coffin of murdered Clodagh Hawe arrives at St Mary’s Church Castlerahan, Co Caven, Ireland. An inquest has heard harrowing details of the scene after police arrived at the house
A toxicology test showed Hawe had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Earlier, Clodagh Hawe’s mother Mary Coll told the inquest she had driven to her daughter’s home after teacher Clodagh did not turn up at Mrs Coll’s house that morning to drop two of her sons off.
When she arrived at the Hawe family home in quiet Barcony she saw two cars in the drive and the curtains drawn. Mrs Coll told the hearing she did not go into the house but sensed something was wrong, initially believing there was a carbon monoxide leak.
The full horror of what had actually unfolded became clear when she found a note pinned to the back door window that was written by Hawe and which read, ‘Don’t come in. Call the gardaí.’
She rang 999 and then went to a neighbour. Mrs Coll told the inquest: ‘I told them, I think Alan has done something terrible, that Alan had killed them all.’
She told the inquest that after reading the note, she had a sense that her daughter and grandchildren had been killed by Alan Hawe. ‘I knew it was Alan’s handwriting. I knew that something terrible had happened. I just had that feeling,’ she said.
Clodagh Hawe’s mother Mary Coll (left) and sister Jacqueline Connelly arrive at Cavan Court House for the inquest
During evidence, Garda Alan Ratcliffe, of Ballyjamesduff Garda Station, said that when he arrived at the house after Mrs Coll called gardaí, he spoke with Mrs Coll and she was ‘visibly upset’.
He used one of the loving grandmother’s keys to enter the house through the back door at 11.21am. The garda walked through the kitchen and found Clodagh Hawe lying on her stomach dead on a couch with injuries to her head.
A knife and small axe lay on the floor next to the couch. He then proceeded to the hallway where he found the body of Alan Hawe who had taken his own life. Garda Ratcliffe proceeded up the stairs to a bedroom where he found the bodies of Liam and Niall, each lying in a single bed. Both had suffered injuries to their throats.
He then proceeded to Ryan’s room and found the boy lying in a single bed and a knife on a pillow at the head of the bed.
‘There were no life signs present,’ the garda told the inquest.
In the master bedroom, Garda Ratcliffe found jewellery and jewellery boxes on the bed. He went downstairs again to tell colleague Garda Aisling Walsh that there were five bodies in the house.
There were emotional scenes in courtroom number two when Garda Walsh was in the witness box describing the moment she saw the bodies of the two eldest boys. As she became visibly upset, there was a pause in proceedings as she tried to collect herself. ‘I can’t imagine what it was like that morning,’ said coroner Dr Flanagan when Garda Walsh completed her evidence. ‘No-one can imagine what it was like.’
Several other gardaí gave evidence at the inquest about the technical details found at the scene and around handwritten notes left at the house. Detective Garda Colm Nolan said he identified the right palm print of Alan Hawe on a blood-stained hatchet.
No members of Alan Hawe’s family attended the inquest.
The hearing continues today.
- Anyone affected by this case can contact Samaritans on 116 123; Pieta House on 1800 247 247; Childline on 1800 66 66 66, or by texting ‘support’ to 50101; or Women’s Aid on 1800 341 900.
Clodagh’s mother thought it was carbon monoxide until she saw note
Before she even started to give evidence, Mary Coll’s voice began to quiver.
She had taken her seat in the witness box of courtroom number two in Cavan Courthouse and as she placed her hand on the Bible and spoke softly to swear the oath, it all became too much.
Alone and visibly distraught, she struggled to get the words out.
Her fragile frame – small-set and wrapped in a black winter coat – was hunched under the microphone, making her low, emotion-filled words almost inaudible.
In the public gallery, just a few metres away, her surviving daughter Jacqueline was fighting the urge to run toward her. Like her mother’s, her face, gaunt and grief-stricken, had given way to tears, as she watched on helplessly from the sidelines.
After Mary Coll swore her oath, Superintendent Leo McGinn took over and read her deposition to the court.
‘My name is Mary Coll,’ he read. ‘I have two daughters, Clodagh and Jacqueline Coll.’
Hundreds of mourners attended the Hawe family’s funeral at St Mary’s Church Castlerahan in Co Cavan, Ireland
From that moment on, as the horror of August 29, 2016 was laid bare, a sombre silence fell over the courtroom. In her own words, Mary Coll relived the lead-up to the harrowing discovery that left her bereft of a daughter and three precious grandchildren.
Clodagh’s family, including her husband Alan, had called over to her house the previous evening, a Sunday. She had served tea and biscuits and chatted with Clodagh and Alan while the couple’s three children were in another room.
‘Liam [the eldest] had won his basketball game and he was delighted,’ the court heard.
‘Everything seemed normal and we chatted.’
They talked about the Lotto numbers and they had a general chat.
‘When they were leaving I said, “Alan, good luck for tomorrow”. I knew he wasn’t looking forward to going back,’ she said.
Alan Hawe was due back at work in Castlerahan National School the following morning, where he worked as vice-principal.
‘He said, “thank you for the goodies”.
‘That was the last time I saw them,’ she added.
The court heard that the family had to leave a little early that night because six-year-old Ryan was due a bath, but Clodagh told her mother to expect her and two of the boys the next morning.
‘Clodagh said she would see me in the morning,’ Mary Coll said in her deposition.
‘She said she would be in around 8.30.’
In a heart-rending recollection, one that again brought her close to tears, she remembered saying her last farewells to her daughter and grandchildren.
Garda Aisling Walsh (pictured) broke down at the inquest and wiped away tears as she recalled the scene
After her deposition had been read, she then answered a few questions from the coroner.
‘When they were leaving then I hugged them, I kissed them and said goodbye,’ she said, her voice slightly breaking.
The following morning, when Clodagh and the boys didn’t appear, Mary Coll called Alan’s mobile because she thought Clodagh would be driving.
She then called the house phone and Clodagh’s own mobile, before deciding to go over to the house herself.
‘I drove to the house,’ she told the court.
‘Both cars were in the driveway… The curtains were drawn… I knew something was wrong.
‘At first thought it was carbon monoxide.’
M rs Coll then went around to the rear of the house as she had a key to the backdoor. The door was locked and she saw a note attached to it that read: ‘Do not come in. Call the gardaí.’
‘I was just about to put the key in the door when I saw the note,’ she told the hearing.
‘I knew it was Alan’s handwriting.
‘I knew that something terrible had happened. I just had that feeling.’
It was around 10.40am. She rang 999 to reach the guards.
As her story reached a harrowing climax, Mary Coll shrank lower and lower in her seat, until she was almost rolled into a ball.
Her face bore the expression of a frightened child.
The jury heard that she then went to the house of next-door neighbour Edith Harrigan.
‘I told her, “I think Alan has done something terrible”, that Alan had killed them all,’ said Mrs Coll.
As her written statement came to a close, her parting words belied the finality of what had earlier transpired inside the home.
‘The guards arrived and the rest you know,’ she said.
There was a stillness in court as Mary Coll slowly exited the witness box.
Like a wounded animal on its last legs, she barely lifted her head as she moved.
Shattered and stunned, she made her way to the first row of the public gallery and collapsed into the arms of her family.
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