
Maguiresbridge: Murder victims will be buried together in County Clare
Prayer service held in County Clare for mother and childrenSchool to remember murdered brother and sister 'for years to come'Childminder said she loved murdered children 'like they were her own'Shooting victim was 'devoted mum to Sara and James'
Funeral arrangements for Ms Whyte and her children were announced on Monday night. In a post on social media the funeral directors said: "People attending the service of removal and funeral Mass are asked to please wear bright and cheerful colours in their memory."A service of removal will take place at St Mary's Church in Maguiresbridge at 11:00 BST on Wednesday 30 July.The funeral Mass will be held in Vanessa Whyte's home town of Barefield, County Clare on Saturday 2 August."Following Mass, Vanessa, James and Sara will be laid to rest together in Templemaley Cemetery," they said.
Emergency services were called to their home on the Drummeer Road on Wednesday morning. Two of the victims were declared dead at the scene and a third victim died later that day in hospital.Hours after the attack, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) told a news conference a man from the same household was in hospital with gunshot wounds.
The PSNI's district commander said that no arrests had been made and at that stage it was not anticipated that any would be made. On Monday, detectives investigating the shooting reiterated their appeal for "anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward". On Saturday, they issued an appeal over the movements of a silver Mercedes between Maguiresbridge and Newtownbutler on the day before the shootings.
Tributes to murder victims
Sara and James were both students at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School and were former pupils of Maguiresbridge Primary School in their home village.Crowds of mourners attended a vigil for the family in the primary school's grounds on Friday. Several senior politicians were present as religious representatives addressed the vigil, and a minute's silence was held as a mark of respect for the victims.
A prayer service also took place on Sunday evening at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Barefield, County Clare.During the service, the parish priest, Fr Tom Fitzpatrick, told mourners:"Let us remember Vanessa not just by the way she died, but by the life she lived, her smile, her strength, her incredible powerful love for her children. "She gave it her all to the very end.""We remember James and Sara, not just as victims of violence, but as children who played and who laughed and had their favourite stories, of course favourite foods I'm sure as well, and great dreams," he added."Dreams that will never be fulfilled, but dreams that mattered because they were theirs."If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, details of organisations that can offer help and support are available on the BBC Action Line.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
From Murderlaide to Methelaide - shocking pictures that show how the City of Churches became the City of Junkies
Adelaide has long struggled to shake off its reputation as the 'bizarre' murder capital of Australia. The South Australian city - known as the City of Churches - also has another, much darker name: Murderlaide - due to its connections with grisly killings, such as the Snowtown Bodies in the Barrels and the Family Murders. Now, it appears to be developing another sinister moniker - Methelaide. A 2017 wastewater study published in Addiction Journal found Adelaide had the highest usage in the world among the 120 cities profiled. And things haven't improved since then. A Daily Mail investigation in Adelaide's northern suburbs, including Elizabeth and Salisbury, has revealed a disturbing reality for residents and business owners, who said assaults, break-ins and homelessness are rife. Elizabeth resident Kristie McRobert, 61, revealed she was in the grips of methamphetamine and heroin addiction, but is now 'off and on' methadone to combat it. 'I struggled to get off it, but I have succeeded, in the end. It's terrible to see people addicted, because I've been there and done it, and I know how hard it is to get off it.' Kristie said the drug is 'everywhere' and her 35-year-old homeless son is also a user. 'You can buy it anywhere. Everywhere you go, people are smoking it. Back (when I did it) a bag of it cost $40 and that lasted you six hours,' she said. 'It's out of control. I've been robbed for my mobile phone, inside my own house. (Someone who is addicted) just walked into my house... she hurt me. She pushed me to get to my phone. She told me if I called the police she would come back for me.' Kristie showed Daily Mail a corner of the derelict Elizabeth North shopping centre that was 'blown up' in February. The blackened ruins are still visible. 'My son was living in there. It's such a relief he wasn't inside when it happened,' she said. 'Lots of people used to shoot up in there. 'Something should be done. At least they have to help the homeless or something, because that's where it starts. We need a (government) grant or something to stop it.' A concerned businessman within the shopping centre, who asked not to be named, slammed police for not doing enough to combat the problem. He said his business has suffered seven break-ins in the past five years. One incident, which he believes was committed by juvenile wards of the state, cost him $2,500 in damages to his glass windows. Most shops within the once-thriving complex are closed, with their windows covered in newspaper. 'You see people shooting up out the back all the time,' the businessman said. 'I've seen people passed out, vomit everywhere. I've phoned the cops, and the cops have said, "Nah he's just coming down," and left them there.' The man said the situation has 'definitely' worsened in recent months. 'The coppers don't even worry about it. The government isn't worried about it. People like us who work hard, we get hit with taxes and all the other s***, and these people do whatever they want, take drugs, and get away with a slap on the wrist, and get back on the drugs. 'They don't have to look for work, they don't have to do s***. It sickens me. These people need to be reprimanded. They need to pay for what they do wrong. 'They need counselling to help them get off it, because they're a waste to society.' A group of people - which grew from five to around 15 as the afternoon wore on - were photographed drinking bottles of beer and cider outside the Parabanks Shopping Centre, 6km away in Salisbury, for several hours. They yelled amongst themselves and heckled shoppers exiting shops. One man was seen handing Coronas out of a carton - which costs $69 for a case of 24 - to his mates. Another man with a heavy chain wrapped around his torso was seen clutching a six-pack of cider, while a woman was chugging purple liquid from an unlabelled plastic bottle. The drinkers cavorted for several hours, unchecked, despite the area being a dry zone. A recent SA Government Preventative Health wastewater analysis study revealed that while the state's methamphetamine use numbers dropped briefly after the 2017 Addiction Journal's study - which revealed Adelaide's meth use was significantly higher than notorious US city Seattle - they soared back to almost the same numbers by last year. It found meth showed the highest amount of illicit stimulants tested, which also included cocaine and MDMA. A South Australia Police spokesperson told Daily Mail: 'Northern District police maintain strong engagement with the community, local businesses, support services, the Council, and other stakeholders to identify and address issues impacting the community. 'Police regularly patrol the major shopping centres and business districts within the Northern District, providing a highly visible presence to deter and detect offending. 'Police actively encourage the community to report incidents of crime or antisocial behaviour at the time on 131 444, or triple zero (000) in an emergency.' ADELAIDE'S GRISLY HISTORY Crime is synonymous with Adelaide - not for the frequency, in fact it has a lower murder rate than the national average - but the horrendous nature of its documented slayings. A British TV documentary, The Trials of Joanne Lees, branded the city the 'murder capital of the world', after Bradley Murdoch - who abducted her and killed her partner Peter Falconio - was arrested in Adelaide on an unrelated kidnap and assault charge. Adelaide's northern suburbs first shot to international infamy through Snowtown's Bodies in the Barrels murders, committed by Salisbury North resident John Bunting, along with Robert Wagner and James Vlassakis between 1992 and 1999. While murdered victims were discovered in barrels in a disused bank vault in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, some of the 12 people were actually slaughtered in Salisbury. Clinton Tresize was beaten to death with a shovel in Bunting's Salisbury North home in 1992, and Suzanne Allen's body was found buried in the backyard of the same property in 1999, wrapped in 11 different plastic bags. The killers sadistically tortured many victims before butchering them. THE FAMILY MURDERS In the 1970s and 80s, a group of men nicknamed The Family were believed to be involved in the murder of five teenage boys, including Adelaide newsreader Rob Kelvin's son Richard in 1984. Adelaide accountant Bevan Spencer Von Einem was convicted of Richard's murder and is serving a life sentence in Port Augusta prison. THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN The disappearance of siblings Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont from Adelaide's bustling Glenelg Beach on January 26, 1966, has never been solved. They have been missing for 59 years, and it's suspected they were abducted and murdered. Their disappearance sparked an ongoing wave of 'stranger danger' fears in the state. ADELAIDE OVAL ABDUCTIONS Thought to be possibly connected to the Beaumont children, was the disappearance of Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe from Adelaide Oval in August 1973. The children attended a footy match between Norwood and North Adelaide with their respective families. The two families were seated next to each other. Ratcliffe's parents and Gordon's grandmother, who were friends, let the young girls go to the toilet together, but they did not return. Despite several sightings of the girls in the 90 minutes after they went to the bathroom - including one witness claiming to have seen a man carrying a distressed Gordon, but dismissing it as a father with his daughter - they have not been seen since. The case remains open, and a $1 million reward for the Ratcliffe-Gordon, along with the Beaumont children, is still on offer for anyone with information that leads to solving their disappearances.


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Devil's Den ‘killer' Andrew James McGann ‘would tickle pupils' and even ‘told girl ‘I wish you could be my girlfriend''
THE former teacher accused of killing a couple in front of their children allegedly tickled pupils and is said to have put a little girl on his lap. Suspect Andrew James McGann, 28, spent the last few years moving from school to school after disturbing allegations about his creepy behaviour emerged. 3 3 3 McGann was set to start teaching third grade next week, but is now behind bars after allegedly murdering Clinton Brink and his wife, Cristen Brink, while their two daughters, 7 and 9, ran to safety. After a five-day manhunt, McGann was arrested mid-haircut at a salon on Thursday and admitted to cops that he killed the Brinks in Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas on Saturday, police said. McGann now faces charges of two counts of capital murder and could face the death penalty for the crime. One distressed parent at his former Texas school told the New York Post that McGann once asked a little girl to be his "girlfriend" after putting her on his lap. The dad, whose son was occasionally in his class, fumed: "This monster was around our children. 'Mr. McGann was giving a lot of special treatment to girls in particular. "He was giving them candy, bringing them Sonic drinks, playing tag with them, tickling them, just really suspect behaviour." The school in question, Lewisville ISD, said that McGann was placed on administrative leave after "concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favouritism'. But the investigation found no evidence against the suspected killer while he was employed between 2022 to 2023, after which he resigned. Devil dentist spent days slowly killing wife with poisoned protein shakes - before giving her deadly cyanide in hospital McGann, who had just moved from Oklahoma to the Washington County area in northwest Arkansas to start a new teaching role, was arrested on Wednesday inside Lupita's Beauty Salon in Springdale. Clinton was stabbed first, then Cristen got her daughters to safety before she came back to help her husband and was also stabbed to death, Arkansas State Police said at a press conference on Thursday. Chilling audio revealed the moment that police found the parents' bodies after the girls fled to a nearby visitor center for help. DNA taken from McGann matched DNA from the horrific scene in the park, police said. Cops believe McGann, who had no criminal history, acted alone and that it was a random attack because he didn't know the Brinks. Investigators are still trying to determine a motive. TEACHING HISTORY McGann had recently moved to the area as he was hired as a "teacher candidate" for the upcoming school year, Springdale Public Schools said in a statement to The U.S. Sun. "This individual has not at any time come into contact with Springdale students or the families we serve," SPS said. While he hadn't yet met his potential Arkansas students, McGann had previously got in trouble for inappropriate contact during his first year teaching. After graduating from Oklahoma State University with a degree in elementary education in May 2022, he moved to northwestern Texas to teach fourth-grade math at Donald Elementary in Flower Mound. "The individual was placed on administrative leave in the spring of 2023 following concerns related to classroom management, professional judgment, and student favoritism," the school district, Lewisville ISD, said in a statement shared with The U.S. Sun. "An internal investigation found no evidence of inappropriate behavior with students. The teacher resigned from the district in May 2023." 'PRETTY DISINTERESTED' Sierra Marcum, a mom of one of McGann's former students at Donald Elementary, said the teacher was the "most standoffish teacher she had ever met," according to the Associated Press. 'Pretty cold. You could ask him a question, and he would give you a one-word response,' Marcum told the outlet. 'Overall, just pretty disinterested in his students.' Marcum claimed that her son noticed inappropriate behaviour from him towards little girls in his class, but the school district didn't comment on the allegation. After leaving Texas, McGann went back to the state of Oklahoma, where he worked as a fifth-grade science and social studies teacher for Broken Arrow Public Schools during the 2023-2024 school year. "As with all employees hired by the district, he was subjected to and passed the legally required background checks prior to being hired," Broken Arrow Public Schools said in a statement to The U.S. Sun. The district said he told them he left the position to work out of state, but instead took a job at a small nearby district in the Tulsa area. However, he stayed in Oklahoma and taught at Sand Springs Public Schools, near Tulsa, from summer 2024 until May of this year. He passed all background checks for the job, the district said in a statement. He resigned to take a job in another state. McGann had not yet started his job in Arkansas at Springdale Public Schools, the district confirmed. On Wednesday evening, he was arrested while getting a haircut at Lupita's Beauty Salon and Barber Shop, which is just about a 30-minute drive from where he allegedly slaughtered the Brinks. Surveillance footage from the salon showed cops taking the barber cape off McGann before putting him in handcuffs.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Man charged with murder after woman found stabbed inside her home, while another man fights for his life after stabbing in an airbnb
An elderly man has been charged with the murder of a woman, while another man in his 20s is fighting for his life following separate overnight stabbing attacks across two states. Homicide Squad detectives were investigating an attack on an elderly woman who was found fatally injured at a house in Coleraine, about 35km from Hamilton, in Victoria's southwest. Local officers found the 81-year-old woman alive shortly after 1am on Saturday, but she died at the scene. Police arrested and interviewed an 81-year-old Coleraine man who was known to the victim before charging him with murder on Saturday evening. He has been remanded in custody and will face the Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Monday. In a separate incident, two men were also stabbed inside an Airbnb, in Sydney 's west overnight, one of them suffering critical wounds. Emergency crews were called to a residential unit in Patricia Street, Mays Hill, in the city's inner west, in the early hours of Saturday following reports a man in his 20s had sustained serious injuries. He was located and treated at the scene by paramedics for an apparent life-threatening knife wound to the torso before being taken to Westmead Hospital. A man who was also inside the house at the time frantically called police to get help for his critically injured friend. 'My friend's about to die, my friend's about to die,' the man told emergency services, 9News reported. Police said a second man, of similar age, was found nearby with a wound to his arm. The pair were known to each other. He was also transported to Westmead, where he remains under police guard. It is understood the fight between the pair broke out inside the Airbnb while eight others were also at the address. Locals in the area have been cordoned off from the scene after police declared two crime scenes and shut down Patricia Street. Locals were blocked from returning to their homes after police cordoned off the area, declared two crime scenes and shut down Patricia Street. 'We're not even allowed back in the apartment building right now because police telling us there was a stabbing on level three,' one local told the publication. An investigation into the incident is ongoing and anyone with information is being urged to contact police. The Coleraine incident comes days after an Australia-first knife ban targeting young offenders was introduced. Victorian parents were urged on Thursday to hand in their children's machetes and knives at police amnesty posts. A total of 45 stations across the state will host disposal bins set up for the three-month initiative. Carrying one of the deadly, long and broad-bladed knives is outlawed, while a sales ban with some exemptions is already operating. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14