‘Daddy hadn’t an enemy in the world and we won’t stop until we get to the bottom of this’

Roscommon Herald Deputy Editor Richard Canny speaks to Willie Farrell about the profound impact the death of his father Liam has had on the family, and their search for justice

Almost five years on from the death of 87-year-old Roosky farmer Liam Farrell, his son Willie has yet to fully grieve for his father.

“Four years and eight months on, I haven’t grieved for my father because I have been involved in the investigation to find out what happened. It’s the very same for the rest of my family,” he said.

Willie, like his brother Peter, has lived in the States for many years but they and their other siblings, Ann and Brendan, who live in Ireland, have always been a close knit family.

Speaking from his home in North Carolina, he recalls that chilling phone call from his brother Brendan on Sunday, January 12th, 2020 after Ann found their father at the back door of his home in Aughamore.

“Brendan said to me: ‘Daddy’s on the ground, and to come home. It looks like someone attacked him and he is in an awful way’. And of course, I was speechless.

“This is horrific. I got off the phone, I got straight onto an airline, and I was at the farm the next morning at 10.30 a.m., a morning that was raining cats and dogs”.

He recalls Gardaí being at his father’s farm, and not being allowed in because the scene was closed off. Intensive resuscitation efforts by emergency services were not successful.

“The first time I saw my father when I came home was when he was in the coffin. I have since seen photos of the injuries and they were horrific.”

A recent inquest into Liam Farrell’s death heard that the widower was found by his daughter at the back door of his home, covered in blood, with his shoes and socks removed, his watch broken and bruising to his left eye and his feet.

The family has been carrying the pain of their father’s death and the suspicions around it for almost five years.

However, in the last number of weeks, developments in the case have taken significant turns.

Liam Farrell’s inquest recorded an open verdict, meaning that the evidence did not fully or clearly explain the cause and circumstances of death. But while the family had been seeking a verdict of unlawful killing, Willie said the inquest provided more questions than answers.

The inquest heard that Consultant Pathologist Professor Paul Hartel, who carried out the initial autopsy, said that Mr Farrell died of a heart attack relating to severe coronary heart disease.

However, Professor Hartel also said had he been informed at the time that Mr Farrell’s body was discovered in suspicious circumstances, he would have referred the autopsy to a forensic pathologist instead.

Evidence given at the inquest by former state pathologist for Northern Ireland Professor Jack Crane, indicated that Liam Farrell’s injuries were consistent with an assault. The Farrell family had appointed Professor Crane to review the autopsy.

There have been more significant developments since the inquest. The discovery of blood in a hayshed at the back of their father’s home by private forensic experts hired by the Farrells, now raises further suspicions that are clearly troubling the family. One of those suspicions is that their father may have been assaulted somewhere else before being dragged to the back door.

“If the blood in the hay shed shows to be our late father’s blood, did that precede him being at the back door? One has to ask the question if the blood in the hayshed is Liam Farrell’s blood, then does that mean that that’s where the assault, hundred per cent, took place, and then he was moved later? That is a solid question.”

Following the discovery of blood in the hayshed on Friday, September 21st by the private forensics team, a Garda crime scene unit from Sligo then took over, spending more than eight hours at Liam Farrell’s property carrying out tests. The family is now awaiting the outcome of those tests.

The case gathered even further impetus with the announcement by Garda Commissioner Draw Harris that a peer review of the original investigation will be carried out by a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) from an external Garda Division. Commissioner Harris has also agreed to meet the family.

Speaking to the Roscommon Herald, Willie renewed the family appeal to anyone who may have any information that could help, no matter how small, to contact the garda confidential hotline on 1800 666 111.

“The fact that somebody would bring this to Daddy’s doorstep is very, very odd. Daddy hadn’t an enemy in the world and for someone to bring this to his doorstep…we will not stop until we get to the bottom of this. No more that if it happened to us, my father would be doing the exact same thing.”

Willie said their father was a humble hard-working man who had great faith. Apart from tending his farm, he had worked in Hanly’s meat factory for many years and enjoyed a few pints.

He was devoted to his wife Maureen from Corramagrine near Whitehall, just over the River Shannon in County Roscommon.

Maureen passed away in her early 70s and Liam had cared for her when she developed MS.

“Daddy grew up in hard times. I was 20 years in Ireland before I left and we worked on the farm, milking cows, putting hay up and everything, and we worked hard on the farm. And do you know what? All the work ethic we got on the farm, we got from him.”

Willie said there was “no timeline on justice”, and no matter how long it took, this was about getting the right quality evidence that will lead to a conviction in a court of law. “The word closure doesn’t enter into this for me, it is justice for our father, to find out what happened. No family should have to go through this, let me tell you.”