Eamonn Lillis and his mistress exchanged more than 200 text messages and almost 90 calls in the fortnight before his wife’s death, his murder trial heard today.
The Central Criminal Court also heard that he intended keeping his massage appointment with her days after the death and that she intended seeing him at the funeral.
The jury heard evidence from Detective Garda Patrick Connell, who examined two mobile phones and three sim cards belonging to Mr Lillis and two phones containing sim cards belonging to Jean Treacy, the massage therapist with whom he was having an affair.
The 52-year-old TV advert producer has pleaded not guilty to murdering Celine Cawley on December 15, 2008 at their home, Rowan Hill, Windgate Road, Howth.
The 46-year-old died of blunt force trauma to the head after Mr Lillis said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio. He has since admitted that there was no intruder.
Detective Garda Connell said the first recovered contact between them was on November 2, 2008 and that phone traffic between them increased after that.
He recovered a number of deleted messages from one of Mr Lillis’s phones, including this one sent by Ms Treacy at 10.57pm the night before the death:
“Transporter 3 good. Love Jason Statham. You staying at home tomorrow? K
going into the office for part of morning so can meet you somewhere. Miss u so much x.”
Less than three minutes later she sent another message: “No pressure though ok baby x.”
Another two minutes later she wrote: “Well as usual I’ll have to play it by ear but will contact you as soon as possible in the morning. Night my love. I love you infinitely. Sleep well x.”
Det Garda Connell said that the corresponding outgoing messages were irretrievable.
On the morning of Ms Cawley’s death, Ms Treacy began texting again at 9.53am.
“Keep ML if you can x,” she wrote, followed at 10.26am with: “Everything ok?”
“Getting a bit worried now babe x,“ she wrote at 11.14am.
The jury then heard two text messages Ms Treacy sent the accused on December 16, 2008. She began by telling him to focus on his daughter.
“I’m not abandoning you. You need to concentrate on (daughter’s initial) and what’s happening to you. To do this I don’t think we should have any contact until things have calmed down (for both our sakes). I know you’ll understand. Everyone’s looking for a story. This is not an easy decision for me to make. Will be thinking of you every step of the way x.”
The last text message she sent him was at 11.11pm that night.
“I want you to know I still feel the exact same ok. I’ll keep those appointments for you in case you need them. I’ll see you at the funeral. Best of luck with everything x.”
The detective said that the pair exchanged 86 text messages, four multimedia messages and 18 calls during November 2008. In the first 16 days of December they exchanged 212 text messages and 88 calls.
Det Garda Connell agreed with the defence that phone records showed that Mr Lillis did not contact Ms Treacy on the morning his wife died and that it was “all one-way traffic”.
Forensic scientist Dr Stephen Doak examined a phone found in the pocket of trousers taken from Mr Lillis. It contained no sim card.
“It had one contact, one call, five messages and one picture,” he told the court.
The one contact was Jean Tracey, stored as J2. Mr Lillis had sent her four messages and received one during December 13 and 14, 2008.
At 12.17pm on December 14, he sent her a short message to say he was in the car and would ‘contact u in 30’.
At 12.44 he sent the following message: “Hi my love. Thanks for the text. On way home from stables. C is taking car back… to see horse. I really miss you my baby. Call or text asap. I love u x.”
Dr Doak examined ‘blood spatter’ and a ‘blood swipe pattern’ on the reveal of a window on the patio 1.5m to 1.62m from the ground.
“It (the blood spatter) had to have come from something that was already bloodstained receiving force to it,” he said. “The swipe pattern is the result of transfer from a bloodied object wiped across the wall.”
He examined blood on the frame and step of double doors next to the window.
The staining in my opinion is the result of cast off from a moving blood-stained object, for example a weapon,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, he said that it was his opinion that what happened by the window was a separate incident to what happened on the heavily bloodstained patio.
“In this instance it was more than likely something spherical or round rather than acute,” he said of the bloodied object that had been hit close to the window. “It could have been Celine Cawley’s head.”
He confirmed that the blood was Ms Cawley’s and said the radial pattern could have come from her head or hair, wet with blood, making contact with the wall.
He agreed that the blood could be consistent with the head having been injured against the sharp edge of the wall.
“But you’d need to have blood coming from the head,” he added. “It arose from a bleeding source.”
He agreed that if Ms Cawley’s head hit against that edge, was injured and hit it again, it could cause the blood spatter.
“The swipe pattern could have come from the head swiping the wall,” he said.
He said the blood on the door frame was cast off something narrower though such as a finger or brick.
The jury viewed CCTV footage from the Summit Stores in Howth at 8.31am on the day Ms Cawley died, which showed Mr Lillis wearing a dark jumper, blue jeans and black footwear with a white rim.
The court already heard that he was wearing different clothing when emergency services arrived at his house two hours later and that clothes similar to what he wore in the footage were later found covered in Ms Cawley’s blood.
Detective Sergeant Fionnula Olohan said Mr Lillis said he had no comment to make about the bloodstained clothing when she and Detective Sergeant Enda Mulryan interviewed him.
“I’m under legal advice,” he said in the early hours of December 21, 2008 at Clontarf Garda Station.
“Do you always do what you’re told?” he was asked.
“No, not always,” he replied.
“Did you always do what Celine said?” a garda asked? “I believe she was bossy enough.”
He repeated the same answer, adding that his wife was a strong character.
It was put to him that his wife was the breadwinner.
“We both were. We were both partners in the business,” he said, referring their production company Toytown Films.
D Sgt Mulryan suggested that he was more of a gofer.
“That’s very harsh,” replied Mr Lillis.
“She was a founder,” he said, when it was put to him that she made much more money than him.
It was also put to him that she took him on when he lost his job.
“She trained me as a producer. I was an art director before that,” he said.
“Was it the case that when she said jump, you said how high?” he was asked.
“No, not always. She’d tell me how to do things at work,” he replied.
He then said it was not entirely true that theirs was a sexless marriage. It was put to him that he had an appointment for a massage with his mistress four days after his wife’s death and that he intended keeping it.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Is this the action of a grieving widower?” he was asked.
“It wasn’t like that,” he said, explaining that he needed the treatment for his back.
He said that the reason he didn’t keep the appointment was that Ms Treacy wasn’t available. The salon where she worked rang him the night before to let him know.
He said that Ms Treacy was the reason that within three hours of his wife’s death, he had concealed a sim card from gardai.
“I didn’t want her involved,” he said.
“In what?” he was asked.
“My wife was killed,” he replied.
“Did you kill your wife?” he was asked.
“No,” he said.
He said their three homes in Howth, Sutton and France were mortgage free and he didn’t know what life assurance his wife had.
“What would have happened if Celine went through with the divorce?” he was asked.
“Celine never mentioned divorce,” he replied.
Det Sgt Olohan said Mr Lillis had nothing to say when he was arrested for charging about 6.30am that day and taken to the district court.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six women and six men.