Concepta Leonard inquest: Murderer 'planned to take own life'

Concepta Leonard was murdered by her ex-partner in 2017

A man who murdered his ex-partner said he would take his own life the day before the killing, a barman has told an inquest.

Concepta Leonard, 51, was stabbed to death by Paedar Phair near Maguiresbridge in May 2017.

Her son Conor Gallagher, who has Down's syndrome, was injured in the attack, after which Phair took his own life.

James Smyth said he worked in a bar Phair frequented at weekends.

The barman was not working the night he spoke to Phair, who was at the local bar to watch a football match.

He said Phair told him he was planning to take his own life, adding: "He said he had everything planned."

Mr Smyth said Phair was "generally happy, outgoing and chatting to everybody" but that day he "wasn't happy" and was "more drunk than usual".

He said Phair repeatedly said: "I'm broke this time; I never thought a woman would break me."

However, the inquest heard that Phair left the bar that evening "relaxed" as if he had turned a corner.

"He walked out and waved to everybody," said Mr Smyth.

The attack happened at the house that Concepta Leonard shared with her son Conor

The police officer who spoke to Concepta Leonard after a 999 call on the day she was murdered also gave evidence at the inquest, saying he knew there was something wrong.

The officer detected a call to Gough Station from a silent alarm system connected to Ms Leonard's home.

The alarm was fitted when Ms Leonard secured an emergency non-molestation order against Phair.

The police officer told the inquest that systems like the one in Ms Leonard's home often give false alerts, being triggered by a vacuum, for example.

The station received a 999 call from the alarm service team, and the officer then called Ms Leonard and told the inquest he knew something wasn't right.

"Something in her voice made me concerned," he told the inquest.

"There was a shake in her voice," he added.

Police were then dispatched from Lisnaskea station to Ms Leonard's house.

The counsel for the coroner, Ronan Daly, asked the officer if he felt he had done enough that day.

"It was the right thing for us," he said, adding that the police did all they could.

Three phonecalls were made

Concepta Leonard's son Conor Gallagher, pictured at her funeral in 2017, made a 999 call on the day of his mother's murder.

The inquest heard the transcripts of three phone calls made in connection with the murder of Ms Leonard.

The first phone call was made by tele-care services connected to the alarm system in Ms Leonard's home.

The second call was a police officer calling Ms Leonard.

The third was made by Ms Leonard's son, Conor, and picked up by a civilian emergency call handler in Gough police station.

The call handler told the inquest her son had repeatedly asked police to go to his home

"He [Conor] said something in relation to a knife being in the house," the call handler told the inquest.

He added that he was able to connect the third phone call to Ms Leonard and the home address by the police.

The inquest continues.