Priest’s plea for help in Hanley murder
Hundreds of mourners attended the mass at St James’ Church in Kilbeggan.
The 83-year-old was discovered at his home in Kilbeggan at around 10am last Thursday following an anonymous telephone call to gardaí. The elderly horse trader, who ran a roulette wheel stall at race meetings and town fairs around the country, had been brutally beaten to death.
During yesterday’s requiem mass Fr Barney Maxwell urged anyone in the community with information on the brutal attack to come forward. “They must be brought to justice because the community is not safe and Christy deserves that we find those who brutally brought about his death,” he said.
“So we appeal that anybody who knows anything, any little thing at all, that might help the gardaí in their search for these people, we are not here to judge them, we are hear to forgive them because if we don’t turn the other cheek then the thing goes on for ever and ever.”
Yesterday, Supt Aidan Glacken, who is coordinating the investigation, said gardaí were anxious to trace a man seen several times in Mr Hanley’s company the day before he was found dead. “We have a number of sightings of Christy Hanley in Kilbeggan last Wednesday afternoon between lunchtime and up to about 5.30pm,” he said.
“We’ve spoken to all of those persons but there’s one person we haven’t spoken to who has come up in our enquiries, it’s a male, between 30 and 40 years of age, wearing blue denims and a blue track suit type top. He also has a distinct baseball cap, with an NY logo, and is carrying what’s described as a blue rucksack.”
Supt Glacken said the man was seen with Mr Hanley in a number of locations.
“From the members of the community that we have spoken to there were a number of different sightings at ... different locations within Kilbeggan, both within commercial premises and on the street.”
Supt Glacken also renewed his appeal for an anonymous caller, who tipped off officers about the death, to come forward.
Tullamore Garda Station received a phone call from somebody who did not give their name last Thursday and the information prompted gardaí to force their way into Mr Hanley’s property in Main Street.
“Again I’m renewing the appeal to that person to make themselves known to us, either in person or through any other third person,” he said.
