BODIES OF EVIDENCE; EX-STATE PATHOLOGIST OPENS UP ON CHILLING CASES IN MEMOIR; Prof Cassidy reveals postmortem 'caught triple killer Hennessy'; Expert suspicious of beast O'Reilly after Late Late show 'grief'; EXCLUSIVE.

Byline: SYLVIA POWNALL

A RETIRED chief State pathologist has revealed how triple killer Brian Hennessy would have got away with his crimes were it not for a postmortem.

The part-time postman murdered mum Sharon Whelan, 30, on Christmas Day in 2008.

He then set a fire that killed her daughters Zarah, seven, and two-yearold Nadia at their Co Kilkenny home. In her memoir Beyond The Tape, Prof Marie Cassidy writes: "Gardai informed me they weren't treating the deaths of the Whelan family as 'suspicious' - probably the Christmas tree lights had been left on, causing an accidental fire.

"A very sad accident, it was supposed." However, she was asked to attend the scene the next day after a local pathologist discovered black smoke lining the children's airways - but none in Sharon's.

Prof Cassidy recalls: "Sure enough, the trachea was free from sticky black soot.

"But within a few minutes of starting my examination I found an injury to her throat - her Adam's apple was damaged.

"There was bruising of the muscles of the neck which couldn't be explained by the aborted examination and, most worryingly of all, her thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone were fractured.

"There was no doubt in my mind that she had been strangled. She had been murdered. The enormity of the situation dawned on everyone - if Mrs Whelan had been murdered, the fire could have been started deliberately to conceal her death.

"And therefore, as her children had died from the smoke fumes, all three deaths were murders."

Back at the scene, it became obvious to forensics the fire had been deliberately started.

Sharon's body had been found face-down on the floor of the bedroom - one child had been in a cot and the other on a bed.

The finding suggested the mother had been killed in the living room and her body moved.

Windows were smashed where neighbours had tried in vain to rescue the Whelans when they saw smoke coming from the cottage.

Prof Cassidy explained: "By that time it was too late, it doesn't take long for fire fumes to snuff out a little life.

"No one could have done anything to prevent the children dying other than the man who eventually admitted starting the fire after he had strangled their mother.

"He said he was worried she would let their 'relationship' be known."

Twisted killer Hennessy is now serving life in prison for his crimes.

Sharon's brother John Whelan said his family would be forever grateful to the expert team who worked tirelessly to bring him to justice.

He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: "It is completely down to the hard work of the pathologist, the hard work of forensics and the gardai that they got a conviction.

"Without that he would still be walking around today, which doesn't even bear thinking about.

"We would be left with the heartache, you'd be looking at every stranger and wondering if they knew something.

"The local gardai were fantastic too - they treated the family with nothing but compassion."

Prof Cassidy, from Glasgow, held the top forensic officer position of chief State pathologist for 14 years from 2004 to 2018.

During that time, she was involved in probing some of the country's most notorious crimes.

Her book, published earlier this week, looks back on her three decades in forensic science investigating gruesome crimes.

She describes the scene of the murder of Rachel O'Reilly at her home in The Naul in north county Dublin as "a veritable bloodbath".

The mother of two, 30, was bludgeoned to death in October 2004. She had just returned from dropping her kids to school and her car keys were found under her body.

Prof Cassidy recalls: "This was a difficult scene to navigate - the kitchen, in particular, was awash with blood. The living areas were in complete disarray, furniture overturned, drawers pulled out - I could see why this was initially being treated as a burglary."

However, the expert said as soon as she witnessed husband Joe O'Reilly's "orchestral display of grief " on The Late Late Show, she pegged him as the killer.

She wrote: "Rachel did not deserve such a horrific death. She had been struck with a heavy object several times with some force.

"There was no finesse to this killing, it was a brutal assault on a young woman. Poor Rachel - was she just in the way of a new romance? "Is murder preferable to divorce? What a twisted world we live in."

One of the most gruesome crime scenes described in the book is the Dublin house where lodger Saverio Bellante killed Tom O'Gorman over a game of chess.

INSIGHT Cassidy's Gardai were called to the property by Saverio, who said he had killed Tom and eaten his heart.

Reliving the horrific aftermath, Prof Cassidy recounts: "There was no doubt that Tom O'Gorman had been brutally murdered - he had been struck on the head with such force the left side of his skull was shattered and his brain pulverised.

"A dumbbell and a knife lay close to the body - an unusual finding was a fist-sized hole in the front of Tom's chest.

"Once I had examined the body I went into the kitchen.

"There was a plate on the table with the remains of a meal and a pan on the stove with some cooked meat in it.

"The gardai found a plastic bag in the bin which contained fresh meat. It looked like lung tissue.

Prof book "The postmortem examination confirmed that part of the right lung had been hacked off."

news@irishmirror.ie

Rachel did not deserve such a horrific death, she had been struck many times with force PROF MARIE CASSIDY ON RACHEL O'REILLY MURDER It was down to the hard work of the pathologist, forensics & gardai that he was convicted john whelan sharon whelan's brother yesterday

CAPTION(S):

insight Prof Cassidy's book

liar O'Reilly on Late Late

GRATEFUL John Whelan

Tom O'Gorman was hit on head VICTIM

Sicko Bellante cut out lungs PSYCHO

Triple murderer Brian Hennessy TWISTED

Little Zarah and Nadia Whelan and, below, mum Sharon TRAGEDY

Professor Marie Cassidy NEW BOOK

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Author:	SYLVIA POWNALL
Publication:	Sunday Mirror (London, England)
Geographic Code:	4EUIR
Date:	Oct 4, 2020
Words:	1019
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Topics:	Murder