Gardaí wait to interview woman found gagged

GARDAÍ are waiting to interview Collette Keane to find out exactly when she was tied and gagged by her friend, who subsequently died when he fell from the Cliffs of Moher.

More details emerged yesterday regarding the extraordinary case, which has left Ms Keane, a separated mother of two, in Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, where she is receiving treatment following her ordeal.

It is understood she was left bound and with a sponge in her mouth for up to two days in her apartment by 47-year-old British man Paul Timothy, who was living in Roscommon Town.

She was discovered only after Mr Timothy’s body was found by the Irish Coast Guard at the base of the Cliffs of Moher on Wednesday and details from his phone’s SIM card revealed his address.

Once his body was found gardaí were keen to confirm his identity. This led to them visiting Mr Timothy’s top-floor apartment at Anvil Court in Roscommon Town at 1am on Thursday.

There they found Ms Keane, who is in her 50s.

It is understood Mr Timothy and Ms Keane had been socialising together for the past 10 months.

Her condition is understood to not be life-threatening. The exact nature of her injuries has not been specified, although it is understood she suffered from dehydration as a result of her time spent alone in the apartment without access to food and water.

Mr Timothy contacted a friend by phone last Wednesday and told him that Ms Keane was tied to the bed in the apartment and that someone should go in and release her.

Gardaí said they do not expect any action to be taken against the man who received the call, and who did not believe Mr Timothy was being serious.

Locally, it is thought the pair had a row and that Ms Keane was tied up before Mr Timothy left the apartment. Gardaí had not been called to the property before and it is understood there had been no previous domestic disturbances.

Mr Timothy, who had lived in Ireland for 10 years and in Manchester before that, was a popular figure around the town and was regularly seen out socialising. It is understood his parents came from Co Roscommon but moved to Manchester, where he was born.

He often worked as a handyman in the Roscommon area and was known to some as “Angelo”.

Ms Keane had been renting the apartment in Anvil Court since mid-2009 but only began socialising with Mr Timothy at the start of this year.

He had been seen in the town at the start of the week but went to Galway and took a coach tour to the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare. The alarm was raised by the driver when Mr Timothy did not return to the coach and Ennistymon gardaí were called.

Fr John Coughlan, a priest resident in Roscommon Town, said yesterday that people were shocked and the effect of the incident had been amplified by the town’s relatively small size.

Local Cllr Domnick Connolly said Ms Keane was “a lovely woman” while “everyone who knew [Mr Timothy] thought he was a fine fella”.