Alan Hawe: ‘People think of me as a pillar of the community, if only they knew’

Alan Hawe, who killed his wife and three children at their family home in Co Cavan in 2016, was troubled, depressed, and severely mentally ill in the months before the murder-suicide, an inquest was told.

Hawe, his teacher wife Clodagh, and their three children, Liam, 13, Niall, 11, and Ryan, six, were found dead in their home near Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, on the morning of Monday, August 29, 2016.

Mrs Hawe, 40, who was found in her pyjamas and dressing gown on the sitting room sofa, had suffered axe and stab wounds. The boys, who were found upstairs in their beds, had suffered stab wounds.