Dublin businessman on trial for wife’s murder at family home

A DUBLIN businessman is due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin today charged with the murder of his wife at their family home just over a year ago.

Eamonn Lillis, aged 52, is accused of killing his wife, Celine Cawley, at their home at Windgate Road, Howth, Dublin, on December 15, 2008.

Ms Cawley was discovered in an unconscious state in her nightdress on the patio of their house “Rowan Hill” that morning. She died a short time later at Beaumont Hospital as a result of extensive head injuries inflicted with a blunt object, according to the results of a post mortem examination.

Mr Lillis told investigating gardaí that he had witnessed a masked intruder running away from the property as he returned home from walking the family dog.

Ms Cawley – a 46-year- old mother of a teenage daughter – was a well- known business woman.

She ran her own successful TV production firm, Toytown Films, which specialised in TV commercials.

A former model, Ms Cawley also made a brief appearance in the 1985 James Bond film, A View to a Kill starring Roger Moore.

The case will be heard before a judge and a jury which will be selected at the start of today’s proceedings.

Despite the bad weather, the Courts Service said yesterday it expects all trials involving juries to be able to proceed this week as scheduled.

The trial is one of the first murder cases to be heard in the new Criminal Courts Complex located at Parkgate Street in Dublin.

From now on, only civil cases will be heard in the familiar Four Courts building.