O'Reilly fails in murder conviction appeal

Convicted murderer Joe O'Reilly has today lost his appeal against his conviction for the murder of his wife Rachel at their home in The Naul, Co Dublin.

This morning at the Four Courts the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed all grounds the appeal by the 36-year-old father of two against his conviction in July 2007.

The Chief Justice Mr Justice John Murray, presiding at the CCA and sitting with Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy held that O’Reilly had failed to make out any grounds that make his conviction unsafe.

His wife Rachel O'Reilly's body was found in the bedroom of the couple's home by her mother, Rose Callaly, on the morning of October 4, 2004.

She was killed as a result of receiving several blows to the head from a blunt instrument.

O'Reilly, who denied murdering his wife, was present at court this morning when the court revealed its decision.

O'Reilly, Lambay View, Baldarragh, The Naul, was convicted unanimously by a jury of the murder of his 30-year-old wife at their home on October 4, 2004. He was jailed for life by Mr Justice Barry White.

In the appeal, heard last December counsel for O'Reilly's argued that evidence of mobile phone records and data relating to the location of O'Reilly's mobile phone on the date of his wife's murder should not have been permitted by the trial judge to go before the jury.

It was also submitted there was no evidence before the court that O2 Ireland was a licensed phone operator under the terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Service Act 1983 and therefore the phone evidence was not legally before the jury.

It was also argued that emails from a computer alleged by the prosecution to be O'Reilly's should have been excluded because their evidential value was outweighed by their prejudicial value as they were sent in June 2004, several months before Rachel's death. It was argued that time was too far removed from the events of October 2004.

It was also submitted the trial judge should not have allowed evidence of three interviews with O'Reilly while in Garda custody go before the jury in a manner where, he said, it was clear to the jury he had remained silent for the most of the time he was being interviewed.

A witness statement by O'Reilly of October 6, 2004 should also have been excluded because he was at that stage a suspect.

The trial judge had erred in allowing that statement be used as evidence because O'Reilly had told gardaí some weeks later the contents of that statement were correct.

It was further argued that evidence relating to CCTV footage about movements of cars on the date of the murder was inadmissible and flawed as it only involved comparisons with a Fiat Marea car, the type of car driven by O'Reilly, and no other car.

Other grounds of appeal, including that the jury should not have heard evidence O'Reilly spent the night with Nikki Pelley after a 'Late Late Show' appearance with his wife's family concerning her death were not pursued.

However, the Chief Justice Mr Justice John Murray said that nothing had been made out in the appeal that would render the conviction unsafe.