O'Reilly's begging letter found in wife's coffin

The fight for justice for Rachel O’Reilly started on Monday June 25, with Denis Vaughan Buckley SC for the prosecution telling a packed courtroom at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court that though much of the evidence was circumstantial, it would, in its entirety, prove beyond reasonable doubt that Joe O’ Reilly killed his wife.

Rachel died as a result of blunt force trauma and the inhalation of blood after receiving four blows to the head. The weapon has never been recovered.

The attack left the loving mother of seven-year-old Luke and Adam, five, without a chance.

Over the weeks the State threw compelling evidence – and a motive – at the accused.

It emerged the couple had marriage problems, with O’Reilly having an affair with Nikki Pelley, a former work colleague. She said the defendant had told her to tell gardaí they were only having an affair and not a relationship, “because if it was a relationship it would give him a motive to kill Rachel”.

On the day of the killing, 18 calls and texts were exchanged between the lovers, and he stayed with her the night he made a live television appeal with his mother-in-law for the murderer to come forward.

Although circumstantial, the evidence began to stack up against O’Reilly.

He had tampered with the murder scene by touching Rachel’s lifeless body before officers arrived, and told a family friend at his wife’s funeral if he had the murder weapon he would have put it in water.

A five-page letter from O’Reilly asking for forgiveness was found in his wife’s coffin when her remains were exhumed.

In four e-mails written just months before the murder, he admitted to his sister Anne that his wife repulsed him and their marriage over. He wrote “Me + Rachel + Marriage = Over”.

He also revealed his fear of being reduced to “Mr Weekend Custody” in the eyes of the State after a separation.

Technical evidence by mobile phone experts placed O’Reilly in an area close to his family home on the morning of his wife’s murder – proving he was not at work, as he told gardaí, at a bus depot near the city centre.

A vehicle similar to O’Reilly’s navy Fiat Marea Estate was also captured on CCTV near the scene around the same time.

The prosecution said this was not a case of a botched burglary, but rather one of a carefully planned murder. It dismissed his claim his wife had disturbed a burglar.

Barristers for O’Reilly said the prosecution’s case had a lot of innuendo and allegation but only little of substance and urged the jurors not to reach a verdict they thought the media wanted.

O’Reilly did not take the stand during his trial.

Instead just two defence witnesses – said to be unreliable by the prosecution - gave evidence on his whereabouts on the morning of his wife’s murder.

His colleague at Viacom, Derek Querney, told gardaí O’Reilly had been with him at the bus depot, but he could not be positive about a time until 11am.

Another witness, Joseph O’Shea, said he saw O’Reilly outside the depot on a rainy day in October, but he could not confirm the date.

The judge told the jurors they were exempt from jury duty forever.