Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MONSTER SHOULD NOT BE BURIED BESIDE INNOCENTS:
Murderer taken from grave after 8-month battle
It was barely perceptible, the briefest of smiles that flickered across the face of Jacqueline Connolly as she stood near her sister’s grave. Gone in a moment, it was the unstoppable reaction to relief flooding her veins as Alan Hawe’s body was hauled from the grave he had shared with the family he murdered. Dressed in a cream coat and flanked by her aunt and uncle, Jacqueline shuddered against the cold at the graveyard where she has mourned her sister Clodagh and her nephews Liam, Niall and little Ryan since their brutal deaths last August. Finally, eight months after she and her mother Mary Coll had first asked for the mass killer to be removed from the joint grave, Hawe’s coffin was lifted back into the world by six workmen and shuffled onto the floor of a rusting Hiace van. The dignity he had been afforded during his funeral last September just a memory and in deep contrast to the practical actions of men in high-visibility vests in the country graveyard. No funeral directors. No hearses. No weeping, disbelieving mourners. No flowers and no priest. Instead all that welcomed Hawe back above ground was a motley gathering of workmen, gardai, council staff and an engineer ensuring the work Jacqueline and Mary started last September was completed, and the monster who fractured their world was gone from his victims. After more than two hours of delicate digger work, the workmen heaved together in a final effort as they lifted the coffin from its grave and balanced it on the edge of the open van. Their well dones to each other were pitted with a little laughter but not loud enough to drown out the rough scrape of the coffin as it was pushed along the vehicle floor. Then the bang of the doors closing and Hawe was gone, on his way to Glasnevin Crematorium in Dublin. As the van struggled up the hill past the church, the sun finally broke through the clouds and under its bright gaze stood Jacqueline with her relatives, tears flowing, hugs exchanged, ready to start back into the journey of grief that has destroyed their hearts. Clodagh had fought for her life and her boys’ lives on August 29 last year as her husband brutalised her with knives, an axe and his bare hands. Her sister and mum had fought for Clodagh’s dignity in death, and yesterday they finally won the battle. Relations between the Hawe and Coll families deteriorated dramatically following the mass murder carried out by the deputy head teacher. And while permission was granted by the authorities for Hawe to be removed from the joint grave at the end of March, it took until yesterday morning to get the work under way. A friend of Clodagh’s family said: “What Mary and Jacqueline have been through is simply unimaginable. If it’s hard for the country to take in what happened to Clodagh and the boys, can you imagine what it feels like for them? “This is probably the biggest murder case to hit Ireland in years and for Mary and Jacqueline, it hit them head on. But why Clodagh? Why them? “No one understands why they were chosen to be the ones who lost Clodagh, their beloved daughter and sister, and Liam, Niall and Ryan, their adored grandsons and nephews.” The Daily Mirror understands Irish police initially kept back some of the most distressing information detailed in the murder-suicide notes left by Hawe in a bid to protect the families. But that kindness only ensured Mary and Jacqueline had to beg, negotiate and fight for the killer’s body to be removed from the family grave. Clodagh’s friend added: “I suppose in general the public did not under-
stand and they cannot be expected to. They’ve no idea Mary and Jacqueline have been fighting to get him out of that grave for the past eight months. “At the time the funeral was arranged they were in deep shock and deep, deep distress. “On the Thursday before the funeral it was somehow accepted the family would be buried together. “But no one is really clear how the decision came about. “But very soon after the funeral the immediate shock gave way to some other sort of emotion, and Mary and Jacqueline couldn’t understand themselves how he had been buried with them. “They asked for Hawe to be removed. They felt he shouldn’t have been put in there in the first place and they wanted him gone.” The only people who could give their permission for the exhumation were Hawe’s parents Olive and Stephen. The friend said: “The request was not responded to as they hoped it would be. “So Mary and Jacqueline had to jump through hoop after hoop to get that man out of that grave. “And until today when the work was finally finished, they felt unable to explain why he was buried with his victims or why he’d remained there for so long. “They were afraid to talk about it in case it risked him being moved. It was awful for them, it was awful on top of awful. “They were dignified and silent and spoke only once to the media about their heartache in the Mirror. “But even that was not enough and the wait continued for the only people who could give Clodagh a voice. “Alan Hawe controlled everything around him. He controlled how his family lived, how they died and for the past eight months he managed to control Mary and Jacqueline from the grave. When they visited the grave for Clodagh and the boys, they had to face the fact the man who caused their heartache was inside the grave. “The country was so shocked by what happened in Castlerahan and people struggled to find a reason. “They felt for Clodagh and the boys but they also felt so sad for Alan Hawe. Let’s just say the mood has changed. “Exhumation is an awful thing for people to deal with but in this case he is well out of there. “He is a monster and a monster should not be buried alongside the innocents he was monstrous to. “We hope now Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan rest in peace and please God let Mary and Jacqueline find the strength to keep going and in time, find some peace.” As they walked away from the grave that for the first time held just the victims of Hawe’s murderous actions, work continued to fill in the gaping hole left by their killer. The exhumation started at 5.40am and finished at 9.20am, 10 minutes before the start of the school day for the children of Castlerahan National School, opposite the cemetery. The pupils there are still coming to terms with the disappearance of their friends Liam, Niall and Ryan. Those same children will learn in time it was their deputy head master, Mr Hawe, a man they had trusted with their innocent hearts, who was the creator of their incredible loss. And while the hole left in the graveyard by the removal of his coffin was easily filled, the chasm left by the loss of Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan will never be filled and never be healed.
Hawe controlled how his family lived, died and Mary & Jacqueline from the grave FAMILY FRIEND CO CAVAN YESTERDAY