Suicide priest told housekeeper to stay away on day he died

The Co Wexford priest, Father Sean Fortune, told friends not to call to his home on the day he committed suicide last March, an inquest heard yesterday.

Father Fortune, who faced 29 charges of sex abuse against young boys, died of heart failure brought on by an overdose of drugs and alcohol, the inquest in New Ross was told.

He was found dead in the bedroom of his home in Bewley Street, New Ross, by his housekeeper, Ms Margaret Stamp, and the caretaker, Mr Peter Bennett, on March 13th. Beside his bed was a poem headed: "A message from heaven to my family".

Ms Stamp told the inquest that at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 11th, she had brought Father Fortune to Waterford to meet some people. They talked about his health and the weather and "he did not mention anything about what he was going to do," she said.

She left his home at 3 p.m. that day. Later that night he phoned her and told her "not to bother coming" in on Friday as he was going away with a priest friend. "I said `I'll come in to collect the post', and he said `Don't bother, I'm going to be away' ", she added.

She asked him if he would open the shutters in the house for her on Saturday and he said he would, but when she called at 12 o'clock on the Saturday the shutters were locked.

"I knew there was something wrong," she said. She had also wondered why he did not phone her on the Friday as he always did.

She contacted Mr Bennett, who came down and opened the shutters. She then "bolted upstairs" and found Father Fortune lying on his back on his bed. His hands were joined and he was holding his rosary beads. There was an empty whiskey bottle in the bin beside his bed and she also noticed some papers.

Mr Bennett said that in the three years he had known the priest, "he never talked about the allegations, but he always protested his innocence".

Det Garda Michael Cleere said he took possession of an empty whiskey bottle, an assortment of tablets and an ordination tankard which contained a powdered substance.

There was a poem headed "Message from heaven to my family" and a handwritten note added at the top, which read: "From Father John Fortune. Please read this at my Requiem in Ballymurn".

Dr Joseph O'Connor, who carried out a post-mortem at Waterford Regional Hospital, said Father Fortune's death was due to central cardio-respiratory failure secondary to an over-dosage of drugs and alcohol.

Asked by the Wexford county coroner, Mr James Murphy, if the drugs involved were prescribed, Dr O'Connor said that to his knowledge they were.

The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. Father Fortune's family was not represented at the inquest.