A young mother murdered 6 1/2 years ago was the victim of a £10,000 "contract killing" organised by her husband, Belfast Crown Court heard yesterday. One of her alleged killers, Mr Philip Andrew Quigley (24), from Dundalk, allegedly confessed to gardai a year after the frenzied knife attack, the court heard.
Mr Quigley, who had just turned 18 at the time, told detectives that Mr Joe Moran, husband of Rosemaire Ann Moran, promised to pay him and another man £5,000 each to carry out the murder, but never did.
Ms Moran (32) was found by a nephew lying on a bloody settee in the hallway of her home near Newry, Co Down, on August 22nd, 1991. She had been stabbed 37 times in the face, neck, chest, stomach, back and left arm by her killers, who then escaped in her white Mercedes car, which they abandoned on the outskirts of Dundalk.
Mr Quigley, of St Nicholas Avenue, Dundalk, denies the murder charge.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Ken McMahon QC, outlined the case against him. He told the jury Mr Quigley was arrested in March 1992, seven months after the killing. His fingerprints were found on tape taken from the makeshift handle of a blood-stained hunting knife and a note found in Ms Moran's abandoned car.
Initially Mr Quigley denied any knowledge of the stabbing, but then allegedly confessed he and another man had stabbed Ms Moran during a burglary organised by her husband.
Mr McMahon claimed Mr Quigley told detectives Mr Joe Moran had asked him and another man to rob his home and told them "to bring a knife to open drawers". According to the statement, Mr Quigley claimed Mr Moran had left them off at the house, telling them his wife was at work, but after he left Ms Moran arrived home and that "both he and [named man] had stabbed her".
Mr McMahon said Mr Quigley was then freed while investigations continued, but a year after the killing he told gardai he wanted to make a further statement. In it he allegedly claimed Mr Moran had asked him and the other man to kill someone, said Mr McMahon, "and that someone turned out to be Moran's wife".
In his alleged confession Mr Quigley claimed Mr Moran offered to pay both men £5,000 each for the killing, although no money was ever paid to them, the lawyer added.
Earlier, Mr McMahon told the trial judge, Mr Justice Campbell, that on the day of her murder Ms Moran had gone to work as a DHSS supervisor in Newry after leaving off her four-year-old son Paul with her mother.
She had gone to lunch with friends, but on returning to work got permission to go home to change her clothes, but never arrived back at the Bridge Street social services offices where she worked. But, said Mr McMahon, "she certainly did reach home", and telephoned her mother to say her husband, Joe, originally from Dundalk, was not at home and had left her a note.
The lawyer added that at about 1.40 p.m. Ms Moran's white Mercedes was seen by a neighbour being driven by a man who put up his hand to his face as he drove past. About three hours later another neighbour became suspicious when he spotted the door to the Morans' bungalow open, but no cars parked outside, and contacted Ms Moran's nephew.
He went to the house and discovered his aunt's "heavily bloodstained" body slumped on a hallway settee.
The trial, expected to last at least a week, continues today.