Man who concealed friend’s body for 19 days avoids prison

A man who concealed the body of his dead friend for 19 days from the authorities yesterday walked free from court.

Bernard Flaherty, aged 37, of 3 Lifford Lodge, Ennis, Co Clare, admitted he put the Hassett family through “three weeks of hell” by not telling them that the body of Frank Hassett was in his shower unit at his apartment in Jun-Jul 2011.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran imposed a suspended three-year jail term on Flaherty for knowingly making a false statement to gardaí on Jun 24, 2011, in relation to the whereabouts of the late Mr Hassett.