Hard-working Circuit Court judge also found fame on the racecourse

Mr Justice Frank Roe, the former president of the Circuit Court who died on October 7th aged 83, was as well known in horse-racing…

Mr Justice Frank Roe, the former president of the Circuit Court who died on October 7th aged 83, was as well known in horse-racing as in legal circles.

The son of a Circuit Court judge, he followed a well-trodden route into the Bar and on to the bench via Castleknock College, UCD and the King's Inns.

While in UCD he was both auditor of the Literary and Historical debating society and president of the then students' council, a double he shared with another barrister, now a Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman.

He had a high-volume general practice on the eastern circuit, which takes in Louth, Meath and Wicklow, but, living in Dunleer, he concentrated on Louth and Meath. He was appointed a judge of the Circuit Court by the Cosgrave government in 1973 to that same circuit. He became president of the Circuit Court in 1986, appointed by the FitzGerald government.

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He came from a staunch Fine Gael family and his political sympathies were always well-known. He was described as "strong Fine Gael" this week by those who knew him,and he was active in Fine Gael politics well into his legal career.

While a judge he developed a reputation for sitting "prodigiously long hours", according to one senior counsel, often until 10 or 11 p.m. He also had a reputation for cutting corners and strongly discouraged anyone appearing before him from asking the same question twice. As a result of the long hours he sat and his impatience with certain procedures, he got through a large volume of work.

The most controversial case he heard was that involving the death of a priest, Father Niall Molloy, in Clara, Co Offaly. Father Molloy was found dead in the bedroom of a friend, local businessman, Mr Richard Flynn, and his wife, following a family celebration at which he had been present.

Mr Flynn was accused of killing him and was tried for manslaughter. When the forensic evidence had been given, which showed that Father Molloy had received a number of blows to the head, defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee asked the State pathologist if he could rule out heart failure as a contributory factor in his death and Dr John Harbison said he could not.

On this basis Mr MacEntee asked Mr Justice Roe for a direction to acquit and he acceded to it. He said there was no evidence against Mr Flynn except his own statement and it would be wrong to convict him on this alone. "It's a little bit unusual but not improper for me to say that no one intended any injury to be caused," he said.

Mr Justice Roe also achieved fame on the racecourse. He loved horses and both rode and owned a number of them. Most famously, he owned Carlingford Castle, which came second in the Epsom Derby in the mid-1980s.

His brother was a professional jockey and he was a good amateur jockey, winning the Ulster National on My Oul Segocia. He continued to ride following his appointment as a judge and was still racing in the 1970s, well into his 50s. Like another president of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Frank Spain, he was a member of the Turf Club.

He was born on May 19th, 1920, a birthday he shared with the Pope, and like the latter suffered from Parkinson's Disease. He spent the last number of years in a nursing home. He is survived by his sisters Kitty, Mary, Elizabeth and Patricia.

Mr Justice Frank Roe: born May 19th, 1920, died October 7th, 2003.