Joe O'Reilly 'had phone with him all day'

Murder accused Joe O'Reilly told gardaí that he had his phone with him all day on the day his wife Rachel died, the jury in the Central Criminal Court trial heard today.

Det Sgt Sean Grennan told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that after Mr O'Reilly was arrested on November 17, 2004, he interviewed him on a number of occasions in Drogheda garda station.

During the first interview, which started at 11.40am, Mr O'Reilly was asked about his mobile phone.

When asked: "You had it with you all day?", he said: "Yes, I think so."

Asked: "you're not denying killing Rachel," he replied: "I deny killing Rachel."

Mr O'Reilly also signed a witness statement he gave gardaí over a month earlier on October 6.

At 8.15pm, Mrs Rose Callaly, Rachel O'Reilly's mother called to the station and Det Sgt Grennan supervised a meeting between them.

After Mrs Callaly left, they interviewed him again.

Asked: "Had you ever a steel bar in the house?" Mr O'Reilly replied: "No, I don't think so." When asked whether he was sure about this, he answered: "No, I'm not sure."

Det Sgt Grennan then gave evidence of interviews after Mr O'Reilly was arrested for the second time on March 14, 2006.

The sergeant told him about an email found on Nikki Pelley's phone, the woman with whom he was having an affair. The message said: "All the boys down on the beach. Only thing missing is you. (xxx)."

Asked whether he remembered sending it, he said: "No."

In a later interview, Mr O'Reilly was shown a number of items, including a brown leather satchel, camera bag and jewellery box.

Mr O'Reilly told them he didn't recognise the bag but that it could have belonged to his wife. Asked whether he might have handled it, he said: "I don't recognise the bag. If it is Rachel's bag, I could have handled it. Rachel has lots of bags."

In relation to the camera bag and camcorder, he said they "certainly had one like it".

Mr O'Reilly said he didn't recognise the jewellery box, but thought the jewellery contained in it belonged to his wife. He said he was "nearly sure" the engagement ring was hers.

Det garda Lorraine Travers gave evidence of taking hair and blood samples from the accused when he was arrested on November 17, 2004.

During the course of an interview she conducted, Mr O'Reilly told them he would have washed the clothes and towels contained within his sports bag on the 4th or 5th of October.

He said he would have done this because they "would have been damp and dirty".

Asked why he would have travelled alone to the bus depot, he said: "Derek was hanging back," to do something with other workers.

Asked: "Why did you not wait for him?," he said he wanted to "go ahead and get a head start."

Mr O'Reilly was then asked whether he had "any regrets" and he replied, "for what?"

When the garda said "for the murder of your wife", he answered: "I have regrets my wife was murdered."

Asked what "drove" him to it, he said: "I didn't do it," before once more denying he killed her.

Det garda Malachy Dunne told Mr Vaughan Buckley that when he interviewed Mr O'Reilly on March 14, 2005, he said to the accused: "At no stage have you said you did not kill Rachel. Can you look me in the eyes and say that?"

He said Mr O'Reilly then looked him in the eyes and said: "I did not kill Rachel."

Later in the afternoon, the court also heard about another email from Mr O'Reilly to his friend Ciaran Gallagher.

Det garda Gerard Keane said he found this email along with other emails on Mr O'Reilly's laptop computer. It was sent at 10.16am on the day of the murder and referred to the two men meeting for lunch.

Mr O'Reilly told Mr Gallagher: "I will be out and about most of this morning in poor phone coverage, so unless I hear from you otherwise, I take it you're still on for lunch at the usual place. Later, Joe."

In additional evidence, radio engineer Enda Furlong, who works for 02, told Mr McGinn, that he prepared a presentation showing the mobile phone transmitters used on the morning of October 4.

He used a Powerpoint presentation on the court screens to show the jury a map of the greater Dublin region. He then traced in chronological order the different mobile phone transmitters which picked up mobile phone traffic on Mr O'Reilly's.

This presentation covered calls or texts made or received on his phone between 08:12:57 and 15:24:57. This meant he was able to trace for the jury the mobile phone journey north from Chapelizod to the Murphy's Quarry mast close by the O'Reilly household; south through the inner city and the Broadstone bus garage to the Killeen Road area; and back towards the Murphy's Quarry site.

Mr Furlong then made another presentation tracing the mobile phone traffic on Mr Derek Quearney's phone on the morning in question. At the same time, he re-traced communications on Mr O'Reilly's phone also, and drew the court's attention to calls between the two phones.

Mr Furlong also told the court that on November 17, 2005, he tested the dominant ark of coverage in relation to the Murphy's Quarry mast, which had been moved since the time of the killing.

He said the expected coverage of the cell on the ground was in keeping with the predictions for the new it

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mr Patrick Gagebey SC, he agreed the ark of coverage of the Harcourt St mast was small.

Asked to comment on whether the dominant arc of coverage of this transmitter might cover an area of 200 or 300 yards, he said: "I would saw maybe, but more than that."