Clodagh Hawes family speakout

[oldbirdtree]

www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/clodagh-boys-never-stood-chance-9367017

I am so sad for them. Everyone on the outside could see the madness of that monster being buried with his innocent family but they were (understandably) to deep in grief to make that decision. I'm so sorry they have to live with this horror

Awful, just awful. And that he's lying there with Clogh and the boys every time they go to visit her grave is rubbing alt into the wound.

I think most people expected this to happen despite the media eulogising him.

Did they have any suspicion ?
The ads are really good at the moment- 'What would you do?' - if you witnessed abuse.

I think those ads are excellent too Holly. Very thought provoking

Really good that they have spoken out.
So sad that no one asked them to reconsider burying them together, they must have been in complete shock and in no state to make a decision.

Can they get him moved? I can't imagine how awful it must be for them that they are all together.

I would do everything in my power to get him moved......its so disrespectful.

I agree. They regularly exhume bodies so it can be done. Obviously it would be distressing for his family but I think the priority must be given to Clodaghs family in this case.

I found it really difficult to read the stories at the time that all seemed focus on the killer and his life and what he must have been going through. The press took advantage of a family in the midst of shock and devastation.

I am so glad they have been able to finally speak out on behalf of their sister and daughter. And beautiful, too, to finally see some photographs of the boys with their lovely mother - in the original reporting it was all him and Clodagh was strikingly absent from the narrative.

What a terrible thing.

I'm or Irish but saw this thread in Active Convos. It sounds awful, gruesome, heinous. Looking back at press coverage though, the mother/mother in law had previously been reported as saying she forgave this brute. Is it possible to take back forgiveness?

What I gathered from the article is that they are now aware of more circumstances surrounding the incident than they did at the time.

The media coverage was extremely sympathetic to the man, as though he had a tragic breakdown, which is perhaps why, in her grief, she said that. But in fact it seemed as though he had planned it and had his reasons for doing so.

OK. Thanks. I'm not going to contribute to the thread anymore. Suffice to say it is an awful crime. And not the only one of its type.

This reference to his 'fall from grace', am I right that they are intimating that he had done something that he worried would be exposed, and that is why he killed them?

The poor family.

That was just my take on the article, I don't really want to speculate further, but just explaining my understanding of it ifyswim.

Lots of people may experience a 'fall from grace' in their life time and don't 'have a breakdown' or even if they do don't kill their family in the most gruesome way imaginable - the apologist reporting is/was outrageous.
It's situations like this I wish I believed in a hell.

Yes to having his body moved if that were to reduce the distress for Clodagh's family.

That was very upsetting, reading what her sister said. It was appalling that they were buried with him - I can't understand how anyone though that was right.

Agreed, pacific

There were threads on here about the way it was reported and how all the focus and sympathy of the press was directed at the murderer.

I'm so sorry for her family.

The Belfast Telegraph didn't pull its punches and mentioned that this 'oh poor Alan' approach merely showed that mysogyny in Ireland is alive and well. A 'pillar of society' does not use a hatchet and knives to kill his family.

Belfast Telegraph

The police over here call these kinds of men 'annihialators' - they plan the murders meticulously including those of their children. Because they think of family members first and foremost as their possessions.

It reads very much as though he had a guilty or shameful secret, and they are still protecting him (by not revealing what it was). I wonder why. I too hope they can get his body exhumed and moved away from the family he massacred.

Well maybe they're protecting the whole family? It's kind of irrelevant if they want the focus to be on Clodagh and the kids.

He is absolutely a family annihilator and doesn't even deserve a marked grave, much less to be buried with them. I can't imagine the horror he put the people he was supposed to love most through

I cannot bear to look at the 6 year old's face and his shining eyes (my DS4 is 6)

I feel conflicted about whatever dirty secret he had: on the one hand I want it to be shouted from the roof tops to make sure that his 'pillar of the community' reputation is ruined, even post-mortem. Otoh, I do understand that that would not help and may cause distress to surviving relatives.

Having read both articles and not knowing the background, the Belfast Telegraph makes me think what an evil sinister man who probably terrorised his family and then killed them.

Was there any actual reason found for his actions? That poor family.

A 100% dig the bastard up and move him elsewhere. He does not deserve to lay near them.

good article in the Belfast telegraph, SN

What secret could be worse than what he did? That's the arrogance of it.

That was a good article in the BT