Man shot ex-girlfriend before turning shotgun on himself

A construction worker shot his ex-girlfriend three times while she sat in her car in her pyjamas before he turned the gun on himself and took his own life, an inquest heard yesterday.

Robert Hartrey, aged 45, of 1 Mill Park, Grangemockler, Co Tipperary, travelled to Roscommon a few days before Valentine’s Day two years ago on the pretext of retrieving clothes and other items from his former girlfriend, Sarah Regan.

Ms Regan, of 22 West View, Cloonfad, Co Roscommon, agreed to meet Hartrey at a nearby ghost estate on February 10, 2012.

Her mother, Ann McDermott, told the inquest she had last seen her daughter that evening when, as usual, Ms Regan had cooked dinner and taken it to her father.

The inquest heard that the 30-year-old later drove in her father’s car to Spring Vale estate to meet her ex-boyfriend. Hartrey produced a shotgun and shot her dead while she sat in the car with the engine running.

Professor Marie Cassidy, the State pathologist, said Ms Regan was shot three times, twice in the head and once in the neck. Prof Cassidy believed that the shot to the right side of the head instantly killed the woman; the second shot grazed her; and that the shot to the neck would also have been fatal.

The inquest in Ballaghaderreen heard that Hartrey then drove a short distance to the car park of the national school in Cloonfad and shot himself while seated in the car.

Hartrey had three children from a previous relationship and was upset that the relationship with Ms Regan had broken up. The couple had moved from Tipperary to Cloonfad about seven months prior to their deaths, but Hartrey returned home to Grangemockler about 11 weeks earlier after the relationship ended.

A series of text messages had been exchanged between Hartrey and Ms Regan while they were driving to Roscommon.

Coroner Desmond P O’Connor said the case was very sad and traumatic for both families and that it was the first time such an incident had happened in his time.

The jury found that both had died from gunshot wounds to the head. In Ms Regan’s case, they returned a verdict of unlawful death and a suicide verdict in Hartrey’s case.

Sympathies were extended to both families.