Who was Conor Downey? Convicted killer died in Cork City house fire

Conor Downey was jailed for manslaughter in London in 1993 after he confessed to the 1988 killing of 26-year-old Donegal woman Suzanne Redden.

The man who died in a house fire in Cork City on Tuesday was named locally as convicted killer Conor Downey, who had moved back to his family home following his release from prison in 2012.

The 57-year-old was pronounced dead after being found in his home in following the blaze in Douglas. His body has since been removed to Cork University Hospital where a post-mortem is set to take place at a later date.

Downey had previously served jail time in both England and Ireland.

He was jailed for manslaughter in London in 1993 after he confessed to the 1988 killing of 26-year-old Donegal woman Suzanne Redden. The remains of the woman were only discovered in 1992, after Downey himself went to police in Surrey and confessed to the crime. He said he strangled her after she withdrew consent when they were having sex.

His victim’s limbs were recovered but her torso was never found. He was jailed for three years in England and after he was released, he returned to Cork to live in the late 1990s.

In February 2003, Downey, who was 34 at the time, was jailed for four years for causing harm to a doctor. 

Dr Pat Lee had taken a blood test from Downey during the murder investigation of Rachel Kiely. The 22-year-old woman was murdered at the Regional Park, Ballincollig on October 26, 2000.

Dr Lee had taken a blood sample from Downey by request of the gardaí. A number of individuals were being tested during the investigation.

Downey later arrived in Dr Lee’s surgery carrying a long-bladed butcher’s boning knife and he shouted: "You took blood from me and I’m going to court because of you."

Gardaí at the scene of the fatal house fire.

The knife was pointed at Dr Lee’s stomach and at his chest and he suffered cuts to his hands trying to protect himself.

The blood sample ended up proving that Downey had nothing to do with the murder of Ms Kiely. However, it instead ended up linking him to a different case.

Downey was arrested by gardaí in May 2001 in relation to the 1988 rape of a woman in Cork. He broke into her house, sexually assaulted her and beat her.

In that case, gardaí testified that the woman was so badly beaten “they thought she was wearing a Halloween mask.” 

He was jailed for 12 years in 2004, after a trial in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin but was released early with remission.

Release 

Following his release, he moved back to his family home in Douglas in 2012. His return to the area sparked a “sense of extreme anxiety” and “fear” from local residents.

At the time, gardaí were contacted by local politicians, households and community groups, all demanding to know what could have been done to remove him from the area.

It was understood that a text campaign took place with people urging others to pass on texts warning of Downey’s presence and asking them to make their displeasure known to gardaí.

Local politicians praised residents for not targeting Downey’s house, which is in the heart of Douglas village. It is understood that Downey was living alone, and his parents are deceased.

Downey was described by locals as being very quiet and having kept to himself over the past decade.