Suspect in killing binge drank before 8-hour siege

The man suspected of murdering mother Patricia Kierans shot her shortly after she arrived home, before going on a drinking binge leading to an eight-hour siege in Bailieborough, Co Cavan.

Gardaí said the man was “heavily intoxicated and volatile” and feared he could end up shooting someone else, shoot himself or leave his barricaded pub with his weapon in an attempt to force gardaí to shoot him.

“This was a very dangerous night,” said a Garda source. “He had already used his weapon and there was the potential he would use it again on himself or other people or it could be another Abbeylara.”

John Carthy, 27, was shot in April 2000 by gardaí after emerging with a shotgun from his house in Abbeylara, Co Longford, following a 24-hour stand-off.

Gardaí apprehended the 57-year-old man at 3.20am yesterday, more than eight hours after he brandished a sawn-off shotgun at gardaí and customers at a pub in the town.

Concerned members from Bailieborough Garda Station went to the Square Bar on Main Street after Ms Kierans’ sister reported her missing.

The deceased had been staying at her sister’s house and had gone to her own home in Drumbannon, outside Bailieborough, at 10am on Thursday.

Gardaí knew the man they were looking for was drinking in The Square Bar and arrived there at around 7pm. “When we went into the pub, he emerged from the basement brandishing a firearm, shouting at gardaí in a threatening manner. He was heavily intoxicated,” the Garda source said.

It is understood he had been in the pub since around 3pm.

Gardaí ordered staff and customers out and locked down the pub. Other gardaí arrived at the woman’s home in Drumbannon. There was no reply. When they broke in they discovered her body upstairs with a single gunshot wound.

Gardaí designated the scene at the pub a “crisis incident”, setting up a crisis management structure. This system had been established in the wake of the Abbeylara shooting and reports by the Garda Inspectorate.

Local commanders, with the assistance of the regional support unit set up two cordons around the pub pending the arrival from Dublin of the Emergency Response Unit and an expert negotiator from the Special Detective Unit.

They established contact with the gunman and during the night the SDU negotiator attempted to engage with him.

“He came to the door a number of times, heavily intoxicated, emotional and distraught, off-balance really,” said a Garda source. “He would shout and retreat.”

He said the man was “not visibly armed” during these times but said: “We feared he would come out with the gun and it would be another Abbeylara. Our overarching priority was the preservation of life, including his. We didn’t want to add to the body count.”

The Garda negotiator eventually convinced the man to give himself up willingly and at 3.20am he left through the back door of the pub and was arrested.

He was brought to Bailieborough Garda Station and questioned under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007, which allows for a maximum detention period of a week.

Gardaí were last night awaiting the results of the full postmortem of Ms Kierans’ remains.

Questioning was interrupted yesterday when the man was brought to Cavan General Hospital for assessment.

Sources said the man was known to them, because he was an alcoholic, but not for any violent relationships. He also had known republican connections.