O'Reilly jury told phone was close to home

The jury in the Rachel O'Reilly murder case was told yesterday that the mobile phone belonging to her husband Joe was in an area close to their home on the morning she was killed.

It was the 11th day of the trial of Mr O'Reilly, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Rachel O'Reilly, his wife and the mother of his two children, at their home on October 4th, 2004.

Yesterday Ms O'Reilly's parents and siblings watched intently, as the jury huddled over maps of O2 masts around Dublin city suburbs.

By his account, Joe O'Reilly left his Bluebell office at about 8.15am to drive to the Broadstone bus depot in the inner city and remained there until about 11.30am. His phone, meanwhile, was travelling a different route, according to telecommunications expert Oliver Farrell.

Between 8.46 and 9.25am, its signals bounced off three different masts, placing it on the M1 travelling north towards the Naul, before arriving into the Murphy's Quarry coverage area - about half a mile or less from the O'Reilly home - at 9.25am.

By the next communication at 9.52, the phone was still under Murphy's Quarry coverage. Transmitters then followed it back south, through two north city masts, in Richardstown and Balheary.

As Joe O'Reilly rubbed his chin and made swift, firm annotations on his map, Oliver Farrell was asked if this corresponded with the accused's description of his movements. "It does not, your honour. They indeed give a different picture . . ."

In a statement read to the court by prosecution counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley, Joe O'Reilly painted a picture of a seven-year-old marriage that was "okay", with no financial problems "overall", just arguments about moving house, disagreements on how to discipline their two little boys and Rachel's longing for a daughter, and the strain for a young wife of having her mother-in-law to stay. The last time he saw her, on the night before her death, he said, "everything was great".

After three denials to gardaí, he admitted that he had had an affair with a woman called Nikki Pelley but said that "it was all over and done with". There had been overnights with her after softball matches on Tuesday nights and later in the affair, on Saturday nights. He had also visited her early one morning, instead of going to the gym. On the morning of Rachel's death, Ms Pelley had phoned to ask if he was calling to her. He said that he was going to the gym.

One month after the killing, he left a message on his dead wife's mobile phone: "Hiya Rach, it's Joe. I'm really sorry for the very, very early phone call. This time a month ago you were probably doing what I'm doing now, getting the kids ready for school. Now you're so cold, but the sun was out, it was a normal day, but you had less than two hours to live . . "