New lines of inquiry in Joe Deacy murder investigation, inquest hears

Seán McCárthaigh

Several new additional lines of inquiry have emerged in recent months as part of the Garda investigation into the violent death of a young man from England while he was on holiday in the west of Ireland nine years ago, an inquest has heard.

Joe Deacy (21) from St Albans in Hertfordshire died at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on August 13th, 2017, from injuries he had sustained the previous day in Swinford, Co Mayo.

The victim, who had strong family ties with the west of Ireland, had initially been treated at Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar, where he was brought after being discovered lying on the ground outside a house at 6.30am on August 12th, 2017, by a passing cyclist.

Gardaí launched a murder investigation after post-mortem results showed he had suffered blunt force trauma to the head.

Inspector Naomi de Rís told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court this week that the senior investigating officer in the case had informed her that recent extra lines of inquiry had emerged.

Insp de Rís told coroner, Cróna Gallagher that such lines were being “actively pursued.”

She also told the brief hearing which was attended by Deacy’s mother, Alison Thebold, by video link, that there was ongoing contact between gardaí and the victim’s family.

Insp de Rís said a family liaison officer was keeping Deacy’s relatives apprised of any developments in the case.

At a previous preliminary sitting of the inquest in November 2022, it was revealed that several witnesses who were living outside Ireland still had to be interviewed by gardaí.

Deacy, who considered himself to be from Mayo – the home county of his paternal grandparents – was a regular visitor to the west of Ireland, where he stayed with relatives and had applied for an Irish passport shortly before his death.

He had spent the evening before he was assaulted socialising in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, before being dropped with his friend to the house in Swinford where he was later found.

He had sent a video via social media to his second cousin, Michelle Deacy, with whom he had been staying, at around 3.45am, but what happened over the next few hours remains unclear.

Other individuals in the house on the night have strenuously denied knowing anything about events that led to Deacy’s death.

Two people – a male and a female – were arrested in 2024 on suspicion of withholding information from gardaí.

The deceased’s parents, Adrian Deacy and Alison Theobold, have issued a number of public appeals for people with information about their son’s death to pass on details of what they know to gardaí.

Insp de Rís applied for a further adjournment of the inquest for six months under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings are being considered.

Dr Gallagher granted the application and listed the case for a further update on October 13th.

However, she asked gardaí to inform the coroner’s office if matters had progressed during the interval.

Last October, Brendan Rowland (30) was given an 18-month suspended sentence at a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court for operating an “orchestrated and malevolent” greeting-card campaign of harassment against a Co Mayo couple outside whose home Deacy’s body was found.

The victims, Peter and Ann Byrne of Gortnasillagh, Swinford, Co Mayo, told the court that they had been subject to a hate campaign for years, despite having nothing to do with Deacy’s death.

They pointed out that they had done what they could to help the deceased that night.

The court heard that Rowland, a close friend of Deacy’s, had been forensically linked to 14 of 40 messages contained in Christmas cards, birthday cards, Mother's Day cards as well as a black rose on their wedding anniversary card sent to the couple over a 12-month period up to December 2019.

Most of the cards contained a signature from Joe or Joseph.

Rowland, a construction worker who comes originally from Ballygaravaun, Ballycroy, Co Mayo, but with an address in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, had 11 previous convictions from courts in the UK.