The father of three children who were killed by their mother at their family home in south Dublin three years ago has called for the scope of the inquest into their deaths to be widened to examine the diagnosis and treatment of his wife’s mental illness before the tragic event.
Lawyers for Andrew McGinley have asked the coroner overseeing the inquest to look into the medical care of his wife, Deirdre Morley, for the two years preceding the death of their children.
However, the application has been challenged by the legal representative of a consultant psychiatrist, Olivia Gibbons, who had treated Ms Morley six months earlier.
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The couple’s three children – Conor (9), Darragh (7) and Carla (3) – died at their family home at Parson’s Court, Newcastle, Co Dublin on January 24, 2020. A previous sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court in September 2020 heard the three young siblings had died from suffocation.
Ms Morley, a paediatric nurse, was found not guilty of their murder by reason of insanity following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in May 2021.
At a sitting of the coroner’s court on Monday, counsel for Mr McGinley, Damien Higgins SC, told a resumed hearing of the inquest that Ms Morley had suffered from mental illness and was under the care of the HSE prior to “this desperate sad event.”
Mr Higgins pointed out that she had been an in-patient at a private psychiatric hospital less than six months before the death of her children.
The barrister said it was Mr McGinley’s belief that his wife’s condition had not been properly diagnosed and she had not been properly treated.
Mr Higgins said his client, as Ms Morley’s husband and father of the couple’s three children, also believed that he had not been properly involved in her diagnosis and treatment in relation to its nature, extent and symptoms.
The inquest heard that Mr McGinley believed there was a link between the medical treatment received by his wife and his children’s deaths.
Mr Higgins told coroner, Cróna Gallagher, that Mr McGinley’s motivation in seeking to widen the scope of the inquest was to identify circumstances which could prevent the recurrence of such a terrible event. He claimed such an objective was entirely legitimate and was underpinned by the public policy consideration of coroner’s courts.
Mr Higgins said they wanted to ask questions about every occasion that Ms Morley had attended for psychiatric treatment for a period of two years before the death of her children.
He argued there was a strong public interest in extending the scope of the inquest beyond the immediate circumstances of the deaths of Conor, Darragh and Carla.
Mr Higgins acknowledged that Mr McGinley wished to inquire into the clinical judgement of medical professionals who had treated his wife.
However, counsel for Dr Gibbons, a consultant psychiatrist at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services who had treated Ms Morley, claimed the proposed extension of the scope of the inquest would result in an inquiry that would be “a radically different matter not envisaged by the Oireachtas.”
Barrister Simon Mills SC said the inquiry being sought by Mr McGinley would not affect the real cause of death of his children. Dr Mills said there was a greater complexity than might appear at first sight to the application for the scope of the inquest to be extended to consider the treatment of Ms Morley’s mental illness.
He claimed lawyers for Mr McGinley were seeking to extend the scope of the inquest into the medical care of the person who brought about the deaths of the three children and not the medical history of the deceased.
Dr Mills said the application was not seeking to have the examination of the care of Ms Morley limited to the time around the deaths but extended for a period of two years.
He claimed such an extension was not necessary for the coroner’s court to meet its obligations under both the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The inquest heard that Ms Morley had been voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric facility in July 2019 and had been discharged from the care of Dr Gibbons on August 1, 2019.
Dr Mills said Dr Gibbons had no further contact with Ms Morley from that date. He said nothing had been disclosed at that time to the psychiatrist by Ms Morley in relation to subsequent events which unfolded.
Dr Mills also pointed out that an expert witness had given evidence on behalf of Ms Morley during her criminal trial that she had only formed the intention to act on her children in January 2020 and that she had not disclosed that intention to anybody.
“She did not have an intention that could have been detected or acted upon at any time before January 2020,” said Dr Mills. He told the inquest there was no dispute over how the McGinley children had met their deaths.
He also noted that civil remedies were available and were being taken up by both Mr McGinley and his wife as they were taking legal actions against medical professionals and the HSE.
Dr Mills said they could also make complaints to various regulatory bodies that oversee medical professionals. He claimed the relevant legislation governing coroner’s courts meant an inquest had to be a “circumscribed finite process.”
Counsel for Ms Morley, Nora-Pat Stewart BL, and solicitor for St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Kevin Power, made no submissions in relation to the scope of the inquest.
Dr Gallagher noted that the HSE was not legally represented but that it and other interested parties including some medical professionals might wish to make written submissions on the issue.
Offering her condolences to Mr McGinley, the coroner adjourned the hearing to allow all relevant parties to make such submissions before issuing a ruling on the scope of the inquest.
After the hearing, Mr McGinley declined to comment on the proposed extension of the inquest but said he remained concerned that he was still being contacted by families of other children in similar circumstances who were at risk.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming here today but this is just the first step,” he remarked.
