Murder accused tells court: I am deeply sorry

A MAN accused of murdering his wife in Dublin in 2007 told the Central Criminal Court that he was “deeply sorry”.

The accused man also told the court that he thought he and his wife had a normal marriage until she told him she wanted a separation three months before her alleged murder.

David Bourke, aged 49, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jean Gilbert, 46, at their home at Laverna Dale, Castleknock, Co Dublin on August 28, 2007.

The court previously heard that an affair between Ms Gilbert and her lover — a man she first met on a Buddhist retreat in Japan in 1986 — was rekindled four months before her death.

Ms Gilbert was stabbed four times in the back.

Yesterday, Bourke told Colm Smyth SC, defending, that, until June 2007, his relationship with his wife was a “good one” and that they were “very close”.

“I thought we always got on well,” he said.

Bourke, originally from Mullingar, moved to Dublin in 1993 after getting a job with Hibernian Insurance.

He married Ms Gilbert, a Buddhist, in 1995 and they had three children together.

Bourke told the court that his family would take holidays every year to France and that he and his wife had planned a “beautiful holiday” to France for August 2007.

“I believed I had a very ordinary marriage, doing normal things with the kids, activities, visiting our families.”

He said that his wife was trying to find work because their youngest son was due to begin national school.

The court heard that Ms Gilbert told her husband in June of that year that she wanted to speak to him and that they met in a pub.

“She told me she wanted to split up with me, that she didn’t love me anymore. She said that I was a bit critical of her, that she loved someone else, that she never really loved me, that this other man was the love of her life and that she loved him and wanted to be with him.”

The court has previously heard that Ms Gilbert met Robert Campion in Japan in 1986 on a Buddhist trip and that they had a relationship for a year and a half but lost contact.

The court also heard that Mr Campion contacted Ms Gilbert in April 2007.

Bourke said that he was “utterly devastated, so heartbroken”.

“I was so devastated I wanted to jump off a cliff, that’s the honest truth.”

He said that he told his wife that it was “crazy”.

“After all these years of marriage, three kids, just to throw it all away like that.”

Bourke said that he suggested they go to counselling but that his wife did not agree. I was just so devastated I just went around shopping centres, wandering around, in a black mood, wandering around like a zombie.”

He told the court that, the day after his wife said she wanted a separation, she told him that she wanted to be out of the house within a month.

“I said, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’ I said, ‘You haven’t thought this through, have you?’”

The court heard that Bourke found a number a letters a few days later, which his wife had received from Mr Campion.

The court previously heard from one of those letters. Mr Campion wrote: “The most important thing is to establish a life together... I’ve always said that not marrying you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Bourke said that his reaction to the letters was “devastation”.

“I just felt so betrayed. I couldn’t believe what had happened and that was being said in those letters. It was unbelievable to my mind.”

Bourke said after reading the letters, he was concerned that Mr Campion “wanted to be a father figure” to his children.

“He wanted to adopt the role of father. He wanted to marry my wife.”

His mental state “deteriorated”, he said.

Bourke also discovered emails that July that his wife and Mr Campion had written to each other.

The first email, written by Ms Gilbert to Mr Campion, on June 28 was read to the court. It said: “My dearest beautiful Bob you are to me extraordinarily beautiful. Handsome is such a cold, unfeeling word. I’ve always wanted you and it broke my heart not being able to be with you. My feelings for you are always so intense. I guess it was the depth of my feelings.

“I really want us both to live long healthy lives, I want us to be together for as long as possible in this lifetime. I feel so close to you these days, sometimes I can almost see you and feel you are here with me. At other times missing you becomes intolerable. I feel so close and connected to you. You and I feel so right together.

“I am counting down the days till I see you. I just want to be in your arms again.”

Bourke told the court that he was “gutted” after reading these emails and felt “threatened” by Mr Campion. “He had ripped our marriage apart.”

Bourke said he told Ms Gilbert that he “wanted to do everything possible” to make their marriage work. But she refused. She was going to be with this man, hell or high water.”

He said that he went to the doctor and was prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping-tablets. “I just couldn’t get any sleep. I was tossing and turning, getting up in the middle of the night, watching TV.”

The trial continues.