A reclusive elderly English couple found dead at their isolated bungalow in south Tipperary some 18 months after they were last seen alive left behind assets worth several hundred thousands of euro, The Irish Times has learned.
Retired sea captain Nicholas Smith (82) and his wife, Hilary (79), were found dead at their home at Rossane, Cloneen, Co Tipperary, on June 20th, 2022, by gardaí after neighbours became concerned when they hadn’t seen them at the house for more than 18 months.
At an inquest in Clonmel in April, Joseph Kelly, coroner for Tipperary, returned open verdicts in the case of the couple, who had moved from the UK to Rathmacarthy, Rosegreen, in Co Tipperary in 2006 and later moved to Rossane in 2009.
Gardaí had prepared a file on the couple’s death for the inquest at the Tipperary coroner’s court but in the course of examining various documents found at the house they established the couple had several hundred thousand euro on deposit in various accounts and investments.
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“The Smiths may have led a fairly simple, frugal life in Cloneen but they certainly weren’t short of money – in fact, there’s a very sizeable estate there with hundreds of thousands of euro on deposit and of course there’s also the bungalow in Cloneen which they owned,” said a source.
The inquest heard evidence that the couple held a joint bank account from which they made various donations, totalling almost €16,000 in November and December 2020, to various charities in the UK and Ireland including guide dogs, Paws, DSCPA, Dogs Trust and Barnardo’s.
The couple did not leave a will but are survived by Mr Smith’s younger brother, Andrew, who attended the inquest in Clonmel on April 27th last and Ms Smith’s son from a previous relationship, Michael Knowles, who was legally represented at the inquest by solicitor Emer Lyons.
The inquest heard evidence from Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan that she believed Mr Smith died from severe coronary atherosclerosis, while decomposition meant she could find no anatomical evidence why Ms Smith had died but there was no evidence any other party was involved.
Dr Mulligan said that given the extensive level of decomposition, it was impossible to say whether Mr Smith or Ms Smith died first but given that the level of decomposition was similar in both bodies, she believed they both died around the same time and both had been dead for more than a year.
Mr Kelly said that on foot of Prof Mulligan’s evidence it was impossible to say whether Mr Smith or Ms Smith had died first and according to legal sources the 1965 Succession Act provided in cases of simultaneous death, where people die intestate, that both next of kin are entitled to an equal share.
Det Garda Michelle Cahill told the inquest how the case had garnered a lot of media coverage which led to some genealogical research companies tracing both Andrew Smith and Michael Knowles, who both contacted gardaí at Clonmel and both made detailed statements to investigators.
Mr Knowles, who provided gardaí with a birth certificate that he was born Michael Taylor to Hilary Smith (née Taylor), “appears to have been abandoned by Hilary Smith as a young boy and was raised by his grandmother and adopted her maiden name of Knowles”.
“Michael Knowles stated that he never had any contact with Hilary Smith, his mother, and he had no knowledge of her moving to Ireland,” said Det Garda Cahill, who added that ongoing health difficulties had prevented him from travelling to Ireland but he had assisted gardaí by providing a DNA sample.
Andrew Smith told the inquest that he was six years younger than his brother and they were never particularly close as his brother had left to join the merchant navy when he [Andrew] was just 12 and he used to see him only occasionally when he came home on leave.
Mr Smith said his older brother always seemed “very glamorous as he always had money” on these visits home but he hadn’t met him since 1987. “I didn’t know he had moved to Ireland – we just drifted apart, I never visited him in Ireland,” he said.
The inquest also heard evidence of a letter written by Ms Smith in December 2020 which they found torn up in a rubbish bin, but which was examined by Det Garda John Sweetman of the handwriting section of the Garda Technical Bureau and reassembled in the correct sequence.
In the letter, which was not read into evidence at the inquest, Ms Smith said it was “not your normal letter” as she was “weak due to lack of food” and was writing it with “arthritic hands” before she said how much they loved the Irish scenery but lamented the quality of the Irish healthcare system.
“We were both so perfectly healthy before we came to Ireland – we should never, ever have set foot in Ireland ... so sad and cruel to end this way,” she said.
