the times | Monday August 3 2020 2GM 19
News
Adrian Deacy has not been back to his
house since the day that his son Joe, 21,
was murdered. The memories are too
much to bear.
“There’s a quarter-mile exclusion
zone around that house for me,” Mr
Deacy said. “If a psychoanalyst got hold
of me I’d be a classic case because I can’t
handle talking about him or having
photographs on display or mementoes.”
Mr Deacy, 56, from St Albans,
Hertfordshire, was speaking almost
three years to the day since Joe died
while on holiday in the west of Ireland,
in an effort to end the delay and
inaction surrounding the case.
Joe, a management trainee with
PWC, the multinational services com-
pany, was found unconscious about
6.30am with severe head injuries in the
gated drive of a house near Swinford,
Co Mayo, where he was an overnight
guest on August 12, 2017.
He had cousins and friends in the
area and was a regular visitor.
Initially, police believed that he had
fallen. Only when he died the next day
and a pathologist became involved did
they realise they were dealing with a
murder. By then detectives had lost the
“golden hours” in any criminal
investigation when crucial evidence is
often uncovered.
Two searches of the property where
Joe was found recovered no significant
evidence. Members of the family living
there have been interviewed. A man in
his twenties was arrested but not
charged.
Police submitted a file to Irish
prosecution officials more than a year
ago but no charging decision has been
made. The Deacy family have strong
Father pleads for justice
three years after murder
Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter support in the rural community around
Swinford and people there have
organised events to keep the case in the
public eye.
There is also, however, resistance to
their campaign. A roadside memorial
for Joe was erected near where he died
but Mayo county council ordered its
removal, saying that it was a distraction
to motorists.
Joe’s relatives still hope that a
criminal trial and an inquest will ensure
justice is done. They want to know why
the owners of the house where his body
was found commissioned a private
post-mortem examination.
“Taking over three years to arrive at
a decision whether to institute criminal
proceedings is a breach of the prosecu-
tor’s obligations under the European
Convention on Human Rights,” the
family’s solicitor, Tony Murphy, of
Bhatt Murphy, said. “This is no way to
treat the victims of such a serious crime.
Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Daisy Cooper, the St Albans MP, has
raised the case with Dominic Raab, the
foreign secretary, and the Irish
ambassador to the UK. “Joe’s murder is
a tragedy made all the worse by a
painful three-year wait just to find out
whether there is enough evidence to
pursue a criminal case,” Ms Cooper, a
Liberal Democrat, said.
“Joe’s family deserve to know what
happened to their son. Mr Raab and the
ambassador should work with the Irish
authorities to conclude the review of
the evidence, hold a public inquest and
bring an end to the family’s wait.”
Adrian O’Neill, the Irish ambassador
in London, promised yesterday to
“bring the family’s concerns to the
attention of the relevant Irish
authorities”. The Foreign Office said
that it had made contact with the
coroner in Dublin.
Mr Deacy said that justice would not
ease his pain. “We had a great father
and son relationship,” he said. “Maybe
that’s why it’s so hard. We didn’t spend
all our time together but I always knew
exactly what he was thinking, what he
was up to or what he was trying to hide.
I want to see justice done but I know my
grief is not going to be alleviated by
seeing his killer locked up.” Adrian Deacy says he finds it hard to see pictures of his son, Joe, who died in 2017Asbestos in
cannabis at
drug factory
A cannabis factory with a crop worth
£3 million has been discovered in a
grade II listed Victorian building that
was riddled with asbestos.
Officers raided Haliburton House in
West Bromwich on July 14 after a
utilities company became suspicious
about high electricity consumption.
A police video tour of the premises
shows thousands of cannabis plants on
all three floors of the former metal-
working factory, under 600w lamps
connected to the mains by illegal wir-
ing. The operation is thought to have
been running for at least six months.
A specialist contractor had to be
brought in to make safe the building,
which dates to 1870, before the haul
could be destroyed. The drugs and the
building were contaminated with
asbestos.
West Midlands police said: “We’ve
uncovered one of the largest cannabis
factories ever found in the West Mid-
lands with a £3 million crop hidden in-
side an historic factory building.”
Detective Inspector Ade George
said: “We suspect this drugs factory,
given the scale, is linked to serious orga-
nised crime. It’s a big win for us and its
discovery, especially as the crop was
nearing harvest, will be a significant
dent in the finances of the crime group
involved. We’ve seized several million
pounds worth of drugs plus equipment
costing tens of thousands of pounds.”
No one has been arrested.
Sacked officer
to appeal over
sex abuse clip
Nadeem BadshahA former police superintendent who
was convicted of possessing a child
abuse video has been granted a Court of
Appeal hearing.
Robyn Williams was sacked by the
Metropolitan Police in March after her
conviction in November for possessing
an indecent image on her phone. She
had been sent an unsolicited clip on
Whatsapp that she did not watch.
The Court of Appeal has decided that
it will hear the first stage of her attempt
to get a new hearing and overturn her
conviction and sentence, The Guardian
reported. She has also won an appeal at
a disciplinary tribunal hearing against
her sacking.
Victor Marshall, of the Police Super-
intendents’ Association, said: “Our
member continues to protest her inno-
cence. We continue to support Robyn
Williams. An appeal has been lodged
and the court will let us know when it
will be heard.”
Williams was part of a Whatsapp
group with 16 other people when her
sister, Jennifer Hodge, sent the indecent
video of a girl, saying that she wanted
the person who filmed it to be caught.
The Old Bailey was told that Willi-
ams should have reported the clip. She
was sentenced to 200 hours of
community service and ordered to sign
the sex offenders register for five years.