Our son should be in a mental hospital, say killer’s parents

THE other inmates in Mountjoy stay away from Brian Willoughby. He has a reputation.

Now 26, Willoughby is serving a life sentence for the murder of 19-year-old Brian Mulvaney, who was beaten to death in south Dublin in March 2000.

Willoughby was transferred to the main landings in the Dublin prison after spending the early period of his detention in solitary confinement.

According to insiders, Willoughby is a loner. “Generally speaking, he does not give any hassle,” said a source. “Nobody gives him any trouble, probably because of his history.”

These are not descriptions Willoughby’s parents will recognise as they revealed yesterday in painful and harrowing detail the life they and their son led before he ended up serving a life sentence for murder.

Stephen and Therese Willoughby, from south Dublin, believe their son, who lost his appeal against the conviction two weeks ago, is mentally ill and should be in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.

Willoughby, an attention-seeking hyperactive child, was, by his mid to late teens, violently deranged. He attacked his mother and in 1998 carried out two attacks on men he thought were homosexuals. One last an eye, the other suffered 100 stitches in separate attacks.

Willoughby was on bail for these offences when he beat Brian Mulvaney to death. During that time, he crashed a motorcycle, suffering brain damage, and spent nearly a year in hospital. At one point, he was on the brink of death. In dark moments, his parents thought it better he should die. “It’s a terrible admission but that question did arise,” Stephen Willoughby told Marian Finucane on RTÉ radio. “We were sort of half hoping that maybe that’s how our Brian’s problem was going to be put to rest.”

As a young boy, Willoughby had difficulty concentrating, and was disruptive and constantly demanding. A psychologist said he was “full of energy” and nothing was seriously wrong. By age 12, Willoughby was hearing voices in his head. By 16, he was becoming violent. Then he began attacking his mother.

“The first few times I was so shocked I did cry. In the beginning he said he was sorry but after said to me ‘do not be putting on an act’,” Mrs Willoughby said.

At 16, he was diagnosed as suffering from attention deficiency disorder. His parents appealed, through the letter pages of a national newspaper, for help, chillingly warning their son could murder someone.

The Willoughbys believe by the time he was finally diagnosed with ADD, it was too late for proper treatment.

The week of the murder, Willoughby, brain-damaged, mentally ill and on medication, was “off the wall”.

Mrs Willoughby said: “I was trying to get him to take his medication. He fired them across the room. I went off and said I would be back at 10 o’clock.

“I was met with blood streaming down the stairs. He was lying on the landing having apparently cut his wrists. I asked him ‘Why didn’t you do the job properly Brian?’”

At Tallaght hospital he was so violent, an extra security guard had to be called. “We begged for him to be taken in, but there were no beds,” Mrs Willoughby said. For the next three days, Brian slept at home due to the heavy medication.

His mother then reduced his medication so he could visit his psychiatrist.

After the visit to the psychiatrist and a new prescription, Willoughby went to the brain injury clinic. That night, he left the house, with his mother pleading with him not to drink.

That night, Brian Mulvaney was murdered. Willoughby, who earlier called his victim a “faggot”, jumped and danced on his head until he was dead.