Celine’s blood found inside sleeve of husband’s hoodie

A FORENSIC scientist has told the Eamonn Lillis murder trial that she found his wife’s blood inside the sleeve of a hoodie he said he was wearing when he found her unconscious, consistent with it being put on over an arm wet with her blood.

Forensic scientist Dr Hilary Clarke told the Central Criminal Court that Celine Cawley’s blood was in a horizontal pattern inside the sleeve.

The 52-year-old TV advert producer has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cawley on December 15, 2008, at their home, Rowan Hill, Windgate Road, Howth.

The 46-year-old died of head injuries after Lillis said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio. He has since admitted that there was no intruder.

Dr Clarke said there was very little blood on the cuff, which would be expected if the sleeve was pulled up and down.

“In my opinion, the only way that could have got there is by putting an arm wet with blood into the sweater,” she said.

She added the blood appeared diluted.

The scientist said Ms Cawley’s blood was also found on the inside of the T-shirt Lillis said he was wearing. A small amount of her blood was present on the Timberland shoes and boxer shorts. There was none on his Gap socks. She said after viewing Ms Cawley’s clothes and photos of the scene, and given her injury, she would have expected there to be much more blood on his clothes if he was performing CPR.

However, she said there was a large contact blood stain matching Ms Cawley’s DNA on the neck, chest and sleeves of a polo shirt found among clean clothes in Lillis’s wardrobe.

Dr Clarke also identified Ms Cawley’s blood on runner boots found in her husband’s wardrobe.

She said some of this was airborne, indicating that the boots were nearby when Ms Cawley’s blood travelled through the air.

She said a watch found on the defendant’s bedside locker was bloodstained but appeared to have been wiped. DNA on blood and tissue found in the decorative clasp matched Ms Cawley’s, she said.

“As the face of the watch appeared to have been wiped, it is likely a thin layer of Celine Cawley’s blood was distributed over the face,” she added.

Dr Clarke then moved on to the refuse bag of clothes found in a case under toys and books in the attic of Rowan Hill.

She showed the jury the heavy contact blood staining on the front and sleeves of the black jumper, the front of the right leg of the jeans, the right black Thinsulate glove and the right blue household glove. There was less blood on the left leg of the jeans and on the left gloves, she said.

She held up the blood-stained tea towel and the blood-stained boxer shorts that were also in the bag, as well as a pair of socks that she said had a diluted pattern of blood.

Dr Linda Williams later confirmed that the blood on all of these items belonged to the deceased. Other DNA tests excluded the possibility that anyone other than Lillis had worn them.

Dr Clarke said airborne blood matching Ms Cawley’s was found on the outside of the blind on the kitchen door leading to the patio. Contact blood staining on the inside matched the defendant’s.

Dr Clarke told Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that she was not aware that Lillis performed CPR with Sergeant Brian Cloone while the defendant was wearing his grey hoodie. Sergeant Cloone was recalled.

He said he arrived at the scene about 10.10am, checked for signs of life and commenced CPR. He was on Ms Cawley’s left doing chest compressions and Lillis was on her right giving mouth-to-mouth, he said. When asked if he had blood on his uniform after giving the CPR, he said he had not.