'He was the driving behind the deaths of his family' MONAGEER INQUIRY Killings despite fears from social worker and priests.

Byline: AINE HEGARTY

A REPORT into the Monageer tragedy yesterday revealed how Adrian Dunne was a "controlling influence" and the "driving force" behind his family's deaths.

It found the deranged dad regularly made up stories to officials, cut off wife Ciara from her parents in Donegal who he sent "aggressive and upsetting" text messages.

And he frequently cancelled important health check-ups and appointments for his family.

The shocking report, which is heavily censored, also revealed how he controlled the purse strings, that the family were EUR35,000 in debt when the tragedy occurred and may have owed more to money-lenders.

Dunne, 29, strangled 24-year-old Ciara on April 21, 2007, before smothering his daughters, Lean, five, and three-year-old Shania and then hanging himself in their bungalow in Monageer, Co Wexford.

The day before the atrocity, gardai, health workers and local priests were alerted to the Dunnes' trip to New Ross to make funeral arrangements for the couple and their two young children.

The official probe into the tragedy has found their deaths were unavoidable.

The inquiry found "even if gardai or social services had called to the Dunne home during the course of the weekend, it is likely the tragedy would not have been averted given Adrian and Ciara Dunne's capacity to provide a plausible explanation for their bizarre funeral plans".

It said it was clear from the evidence they were planning the deaths of the family but Dunne was "the driving force behind the planning and execution of the deaths".

The inquiry said there was no third party involvement in the suicide/killing.

'SUICIDE' TEXT

A Garda search of the house found several mobile phones and two SIM cards which "had been deliberately broken in two" to destroy text messages. One of the mobiles revealed a "suicide" text message in its outbox sent to a number. It said: "Please ring father r from Wexford and tel him Ciara and Aidran are so very sorry. we nott going to Livepol. Instad we pick heaven...please for give."

The report also outlined how a local curate from Clonroche had paid a visit to the family on the Friday evening before their deaths after concerns were raised about their trip to the undertakers. He spent two hours with the family where Ciara brushed off concerns about them harming themselves by saying they had made the arrangements in case the family was wiped out in a car crash.

The priest told investigators: "I didn't see he [Adrian Dunne] would harm the family."

The report also revealed how the Monageer parish priest made two unsuccessful visits to the home over that weekend. He said the family car was in the driveway, the blinds were pulled down and everything was quiet.

The tragedy was uncovered on Monday at 1.30pm after clergy and friends called gardai.

A social worker had also been alerted that the Dunnes might be at risk but no action was taken over the weekend. The report found there was no single motive behind the tragedy, but highlighted Dunne's "controlling and dominant influence". It found Ciara's "docile, childlike nature" may have made her compliant to her husband's wishes.

MOUNTING DEBTS

But it claimed Dunne's ability to isolate Ciara from her family, mounting debts, the ending of a possible move to Liverpool and "an idealised notion of the family being together forever in heaven" may all have contributed to their deaths.

It also said the death of Dunne's father in 2006 and the suicide of his brother James on March 29, 2007, were "important factors" leading to the tragedy.

The report found the family's relationship with social and health workers was "disjointed" because they moved house five times after moving to Wexford in 2003. It claimed Dunne "frequently misinformed service providers by furnishing misleading information".

The family had four different mobile phones and a landline and were "sometimes hard to contact".

At the time of their deaths, the family had an outstanding Eircom bill of EUR3,629.79.

Dunne always made the appointments, cancelled them, answered phone calls and came to the door.

He also regularly cancelled important health check-up and appointments for his family.

His daughters, who both inherited his cataract problem which left them partially blind, had missed seven appointments with an eye consultant in the year leading up to the tragedy.

The missed appointments only came to light when the girls missed a check-up with a paediatrician and was told by Dunne this because they were in Dublin the eye consultant.

However, it emerged the girls been to see the specialist October 2006.

The report said Dunne " tended fabricate stories about trips and the deaths of an entire in a car accident" and Ciara " colluded with such on occasion".

It also described how the couple little contact with the outside Months before the tragedy, her noticed it harder to get in with her and they started receive " extremely aggressive upsetting" text messages from mobile but suspected these from her husband.

The family of Adrian Dunne night demanded the full publication of the unedited report into murder-suicide tragedy.

Irish Mirror Comment: Page 10

'Different standards for living and dead'

THE FAMILY

ADRIAN Dunne's family have accusing investigators of applying "one standard for the living and a different one for the dead".

Their solicitor said they had found it "disappointing that numerous sections have been redacted or blacked out" in the report. He added: "They questioned why this should happen a public- funded report which designed to discover all facts particularly in relation support or lack of support for in need.

" While the team chose not to in on any living persons were in any way involved this tragedy, they very zoned in on the deceased by quoting extensively the various postmortems."

CAPTION(S):

HORROR Bodies were found inside house in Co Wexford TOGETHER Adrian Dunne, Ciara, Shania, left, and Lean in 2005