Debt drove man to kill wife and stab daughter

A man who suffered a mental breakdown while under severe financial pressure stabbed his wife to death and critically injured his eldest daughter before taking his own life, an inquest established yesterday.

At a double inquest into the deaths of Michael Greaney, 53, and his wife, Valerie, 49, coroner Frank O’Connell heard how Mr Greaney had been under severe financial pressure, and was struggling with mental ill-health.

In her statement, which was read into the record, their eldest daughter Michelle said she and her younger sister Sarah were raised in a close, tight-knit, loving family that did everything together.