Two brothers who robbed elderly people were jailed for a total of 27 years yesterday for the killing of an 81-year-old farmer who was beaten to death for £45.
Sentencing John Doyle to 15 years and his brother, Christopher Doyle, to 12 years for the manslaughter of Co Meath farmer Mr Paddy Logan on June 5th, 2000, Mr Justice Carney said no sentence he could impose would adequately deal with the horror of this case.
The two were further sentenced to three years for the robbery of Mr Logan's 85-year-old brother, Peter, who was injured in the attack.
The court heard that John Doyle was previously convicted of stabbing to death an 84-year-old man in Dublin in 1984. He was also convicted of the burglary of an elderly couple in England, an offence which happened after the killing of Mr Logan.
Christopher Doyle also has lengthy convictions for violent crimes, including that of beating an elderly woman after he broke into the bedroom of her home in England.
The court heard the defendants are from a family of settled Travellers whose mother sent John out to steal when he was seven years old.
John Doyle (35), of no fixed abode, and Christopher Doyle (29), formerly of Fatima Mansions, Dublin, whose last address was St Fintan's Grove, Lucan, Co Dublin, had denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Paddy Logan .
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Peter Logan had to be helped to the stand to give evidence of how his life was destroyed by the killing of his brother. The court heard he sustained a fractured nose in the attack and since then is on anti-depressants. He also suffers from recurring flashbacks and nightmares.
The two elderly brothers lived in a farmhouse at Castlejordan, Co Meath, where they had farmed since boyhood. They had been listening to a match on the radio when Christopher and John Doyle broke in demanding money.
Asked by prosecutor, Mr Tom O'Connell SC, if he had returned to the family farm since the killing, Peter Logan replied: "No. I never went out near it." He now lives with his niece, who extended her home to accommodate him.
The court heard that the Doyle brothers targeted Paddy and Peter Logan in January 2000, five months before the killing. John Doyle received a tip-off from another settled Traveller that the Logans did not use banks and kept their money in the house.
However, when John Doyle went to the house alone, Mr Paddy Logan fired two shots from his shotgun and he ran off.
Supt Peter Wheeler, of Tullamore, told the court that both accused admitted their part in the robbery but each blamed the other for the fatal attack on Paddy Logan.
He said that on the day of the killing, Christopher Doyle met John and his partner, Jennifer Dunne, and they drove out to the Logan house. Dunne waited nearby while the brothers went inside. Dunne has already pleaded guilty to burglary in connection with the incident and was sentenced to 11 months suspended.
The superintendent said that, in custody, Christopher Doyle had said that when they broke in, the brothers were beside the fireplace, listening to a match on the radio. Paddy Logan was beaten severely. He died from an accumulation of blood around the heart caused by rupture of the aortic wall.
After killing Paddy Logan, the Doyle brothers took £45 (€57) from Peter Logan's pockets before escaping.
The court heard that both defendants were heroin users. Between them they have 13 children.
The court also heard that at the age of 17 John Doyle was jailed for three years for the manslaughter of Mr Matthew Coates (84) in Clondalkin, Dublin, in June 1984.
In 1996, Christopher Doyle was jailed for three years by Bournmouth Crown Court after he broke into the bedroom of an elderly woman and beat her around the head while demanding money. She died three months later.
Garda sources said the brothers were career criminals who went on reconnaissance here and in the UK looking for elderly and vulnerable people to rob.
Mr Justice Carney said: "For the sake of £45" the life of one man was snuffed out and his brother had his destroyed. The Doyles then engaged in the "cut-throat defence" of blaming each other.