O'Reilly threatened to kill himself if found guilty

An attempt by the prosecution on Friday to revoke Joe O'Reilly's bail and keep him in custody until the jury had finished their deliberations was rejected by the Judge.

The court also heard Mr O'Reilly told gardaí he would kill himself if he was found guilty.

At the end of Mr Justice Barry White's charge on Friday afternoon, the jury were sent out to consider their verdict.

The Judge then heard requisitions from both the defence and the prosecution in relation to aspects of the case they wanted him to highlight.

The Judge then recalled the jury and directed them as he saw fit.

After the jury retired for the second time, Superintendent Joseph Kelly, gave evidence of his belief that Mr O'Reilly may flee the country before the jury had reached their verdict.

He told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that Mr O'Reilly was granted bail at the time he was charged and had abided by the terms of its conditions.

He said the reason he fears Mr O'Reilly would flee is that he had "information that the children are presently out of the country".

He added: "They're living in Derry at the moment and it's my concern that he may not stick around until the deliberations of the jury have been terminated."

"They're have been a number of comments made by Nikki Pelley [the woman with whom Mr O'Reilly was having an affair] in interview in relation to the children."

He said "there's no doubt" that Joe O'Reilly made a major issue of the custody of the children when discussing these issues with her.

"There was another statement made by the accused when he was in custody which said that he would commit suicide if he was convicted."

However, the Judge ruled against this and said: "There's a bail regime in place and it will remain in place."

He noted that Mr O'Reilly's mother had been present throughout the trial, as had Mr O'Reilly himself and his brother for a large portion of it.

Referring to the children having gone to Derry, he said: "I think it was very reasonable of any person to have someone look after them."

He added: "The children may be very fortunate to be out of the jurisdiction."

He explained that the children had been the subject of attention and that while only the older son, Luke, would be able to read the publicity in the papers, the younger son Adam, would be old enough to recognise the pictures of his parents.

He also said that Mr O'Reilly had been a suspect from very soon after the murder and "if he'd any intention of fleeing the jurisdiction, I would have imagined he would have done so long since."

Later that evening, defence counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC told the Judge that the O'Reilly children were not out of the jurisdiction.