Fraudster’s will asked that couple be buried together

Convicted fraudster Julia Holmes, found dead with her partner in an apparent double suicide, wrote to a solicitor firm asking that they both be buried together weeks before their bodies was found, it has emerged.

The badly decomposed bodies of Thomas Ruttle (56) and his 63-year-old partner who used over 40 different aliases, were discovered lying fully clothed side by side in an upstairs bedroom of the farmhouse house they shared at Boolaglass, Askeaton Co Limerick, on May 18 last.

A rifle – one of two licensed firearms in the house – which was found in the bedroom had not been discharged and there was no sign of gun shot wounds to the bodies or any physical trauma.

Gardaí believe the couple may have died from deliberate carbon monoxide poisoning.

A post mortem carried out by State Pathologist Marie Cassidy failed to establish the cause of the couples death and it took several days to officially confirm the identities of the bodies such was the level of decomposition.

The results of toxicology tests are expected to take a further week.

A series of hand written suicide notes found in the kitchen of the farmhouse have led detectives to believe their deaths were as a result of a joint suicide pact.

“If you find us don’t revive us” – was one of the messages found among the 20 hand written post its and notes, many of which were signed by the dead couple.

Also found among the letters was a request that the contents of the notes be read out at the couple’s inquests.

It has now emerged that weeks before the bodies were found by burglars who tried to break into the County Limerick farmhouse, Julia Holmes sent a letter claiming to be her last will and testament, signed by herself and Tom Ruttle to a Northern Irish legal practice.

It's understood the letter was signed Julia Holmes, one of the many aliases used by the woman born Cecilia Julia McKitterick in Castlederg, Co Tyrone.

In the correspondence she requested to be buried alongside Thomas Ruttle whom she married in April 2011, despite never divorcing her two previous husbands.

The letter states that the couple be buried alongside each other in the Ruttle family plot that contains a small gravestone erected in memory of a baby named Annabella Clarinda Ruttle.

The inscription on the headstone states that the baby who died on December 2nd, 2011, was the “treasured baby daughter of Tom and Croéin Ruttle”, another one of Cecilia McKitterick’s aliases.

At the time she claimed the baby was born prematurely, Julia Holmes would have been almost 60 years of age.

It is understood an instruction on the will state that proceeds from the estate are to be distributed among local builders who worked on the renovations at the Ruttle family farmhouse previously owned by Tom’s late mother Eileen.

Ms Ruttle led local builders to believe she was dying from cancer when they sought €70,000 for renovating the two-storey farmhouse in Boolaglass.

Sources have questioned whether the letter will have any legal standing given Julia Holmes signed it using one of her many different aliases.

In April 2011 – despite having been previously twice married and never divorced – Ms Holmes had a blessing to Thomas Ruttle, a divorced father of two from Co Limerick whom she described as her husband.

It’s understood the separated mechanic became estranged from his two sons on the insistence of his new wife who in 2012 became joint owner of his home in Boolaglass, Askeaton, where he was born and reared.

Difficulties arose when the couple tried to sell the property last Christmas, after Ms Holmes was unable to produce a PPS number or a marriage certificate to Thomas Ruttle.

"She indicated there were some nasty people out to get her in Northern Ireland and she had to keep a low profile, and that was why she couldn't come forward and get her PPS number or claim any social welfare," revealed one source.

“They couldn’t sell the house because of the problem with her PPS number and there was no marriage cert.”

The couple had not been seen in public together since March after television and newspaper reports of his wife’s fraudulent activities began to emerge.

Investigating gardaí are satisfied there was communication between Mr Ruttle and another man in early April.

However, they are still trying to establish when Ms Holmes was last seen, and her social media activity and blog entries are being examined as part of the inquiry.

Detectives are also looking into claims that a woman, trying to unmask Ms Holmes’s fraudulent activities, was blocked from accessing a Twitter account used by Ms Holmes on April 22nd last.

Ms Holmes, who had over 20 previous convictions for fraud in North of Ireland, was the subject of FBI and PSNI investigations and also promoted bogus charity events while she was in Limerick including a fundraiser for Bumbleance, the charity aiding the transportation of sick children, as well as cancer research groups.

The body of the 63-year-old remains in a morgue at University Hospital Limerick unclaimed.

Her son Paul, 43, whom she abandoned when he was six months old, has said he wants nothing to do with his estranged mother and that issues will only be resolved for him when he hears the details of her death at the coroner’s inquest.

It’s understood Mr Ruttle’s family is making arrangements for a private funeral service for him which is expected to take place next week.