On The Street Where He Lived

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Mark Hennessy

The construction worker, a married man and father of two young children, had made a home for himself and his family on Woodbrook Lawn, Bray, Co Wicklow, for around three years.

But he’d made little effort to establish himself in the neighbourhood, lined with neatly trimmed bushes and mowed lawns.

“He was known as a weirdo,” one neighbour said. “You’d say hello to him and he’d ignore you, he wouldn’t answer you back or even look in your direction.”

“He used to go into local bookies a lot,” said one local man in Bray. “But he didn’t socialise round here. If he was a construction worker, he didn’t bother with others in his industry round here.

“He was an evil man who didn’t let anyone know who he was.”

Videos give glimpse into life of ‘weirdo’ who ‘ignored neighbours (Independent.ie)

Alternatively….

A surprised resident described Mark as “very, very quiet” and as “a terrible nice man”.

She said: “He is only in the area a couple years. He had two little girls. I am on my own and he was the only one who came in to check on me when the real bad snow hit.

“He knocked in several times and asked if I was OK and if I needed anything from the shop.

“He was a really nice neighbour. When he moved in, he couldn’t have been nicer. He asked me would I hold his key for him in case anything ­happened, if the alarm went off or anything like that. His wife was always around, out walking. She is a really nice girl. He was very, very quiet. A terrible nice man.”

Asked if she could ever have imagined her neighbour would be caught up in such events, she replied: “No, I couldn’t believe it when I heard it.”

Another Woodbrook Lawn resident never had any concerns about ­Hennessy either.

She said: “I didn’t really know him. He kept to himself mostly. When I heard the name I didn’t even realise he lived just a few doors away. He was very polite, kept to himself, and there was never any indication of any trouble or anything like that.”

Evil murderer Mark Hennessy called family to say ‘I’m not coming back’ (Irish Sun)

Last Night: In Rathmichael

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106 thoughts on “On The Street Where He Lived

    1. rotide

      There has been a lot of focus on her. Obviously people are interested in the type of person who would commit such an act. To expect otherwise is naive.

      1. Martco

        Ah.
        yez are both right.
        it’s disaster all around. a most horrific way to die for her, as an only child I can’t imagine what state the poor parents are in (think for me it would be just game over), the detective that shot & killed the nutjob (& the knowledge that there could well be now unsolved possibilities beyond this incident), his family, the family of the nutjob…the list goes on.
        I got upset thinking about her family this morning…think the easiest way to deal with it is to put it down to one of those situations like a hit & run..wrong place wrong time. simply a disaster.

  1. Junkface

    Its a very strange case indeed. What drove him to suddenly kidnap and murder a young girl? Its fair enough if the media is focussing on him too as we need to know why this happened. Could it be prevented in future?

      1. Lilly

        The Gardai don’t think so. She worked as a waitress near where he lived so they are looking into the possibility that he had seen her and begun stalking her, or had seen her in nearby gym. At the moment, according to reports, they think it was random killing.

    1. Starina

      will be interesting in coming weeks to find out if he was a domestic abuser or not. these psychos usually are, it’s an early warning of worse to come.

    2. realPolithicks

      I’m guessing this was not a “sudden” thing, he may even have done this before.

  2. Simon

    I have a neighbour who hasn’t returned a greeting in the 10 years we have lived there.
    No greetings, in his 40s and lives with his parents still – must be a murderer in the making.

        1. Lilly

          He’s busy thinking, ‘it might be a good morning for you but I’m in my 40s and still living with my parents so put a sock in it sunshine’.

          1. Kay

            Duck I had to move back in with my folks because there’s no housing in this corrupt kip. now everyone will suspect I’m a killer!

          2. Lilly

            This man was married with two children so unless you actually kill them, you should be free from suspicion. You could always get a t-shirt printed if you want to put the neighbors at ease.

    1. Jas

      Nobody talks to there neighbours anymore. I couldn’t name either side of where I live.

  3. Andrew

    The Gardaí ‘believe’ she died within an hour of her abduction. That is strange, as the forensic pathologist has not determined that yet.
    The Gardai have not been clear on what action they took after an eye witness report to them of an abduction. It is not clear if they actually did anything; until they received a missing persons report from the victim’s family.

    1. b

      one of the papers had it that they may have figured out where he went from the GPS in the car, so from that the guards could probably identify how long he was at the site she was found at after the reported abduction

    2. Lilly

      That’s a fair deduction. If they can see that he drove straight to the site where body was found, and left again quickly, it’s reasonable to assume she died within an hour of abduction.

      They did nothing until family reported her missing around 11.15pm. Worrying that they didn’t follow up on eye witness report of abduction.

      1. postmanpat

        The abduction happened at 6:15 pm. It was feeding time at the trough back at the station. Good to know if your an aspiring kidnapper.

        1. Bernie

          @ Postmanpat

          He needed taking out of it. I have no time for the Gardai either but they did the right thing. The sentencing here rarely fits the crime, let that be a lesson to any similar pond-life.

          1. Spaghetti Hoop

            I never thought of it as a deterrent but you’re right. As is GPS and vigilant passers-by, who caught the reg plate in this case. We are all trackable – a good thing in my view. I and my non-chatty, non-hedge-trimming neighbours take note.

        2. Bernie

          @ Spaghetti Hoop

          I say that in hindsight, with the knowledge that her parents will have her returned to them. If they had not been able to locate her, I would feel differently.

      2. Cian

        And what do you think they could have done?

        Unless there was a car within 2 minutes of where the call came from – by the time they got there – the original car would be long gone.

        1. Lilly

          Presumably, for starters, they could have put a call out to all cop cars in south county Dublin and Wicklow along the following lines: ‘Suspected abduction near Enniskerry, black SUV, headed in the direction of… keep your eyes peeled’.

          They could have searched the road and found her phone sooner. Hey, I’m not a cop, surely there’s a protocol. I’d hope they don’t just shrug their shoulders and say sure what can we do.

        2. rotide

          You do realise that eye witnesses are literally the most unreliable form of evidence?

          We have no idea what form of report this witness made. As far as the guard reieving the report knows, it might be someone overreacting to a couple having a fight or even a dad picking his daughter up from school. Like Cian says , without someone on the scene to canvass other potential witnesses , they could be starting a dublin manhunt for Lily and Mr Lily out for a sunday drive.

          1. Lilly

            Rotide, when you see a woman get a punch in the face before being dragged into a car, you know she is in trouble and needs help. Apparently the witness was upset by what she had seen and went into a nearby pub to summon help. It was Saturday evening, not Sunday.

          2. rotide

            Yes, when YOU see. When you relate that to a guard, it’s not THE GUARD seeing it, it’s secondhand information.

            Now if you have a little look around these parts, you might notice that people are prone to the teeniest bit of exageration and embelisment. Would you trust David’s report of a fracas at an abortion clinic for example?

          3. Frilly Waters

            do you ever stop trying to score points Rottie

            cheezus t’night
            yer like one’ah them quiz heads sometimes

          4. Lilly

            What exactly are you saying here, Rotide, that unless a Garda sees something with his or her own two eyes, they should feel free to disregard reports of it? Or at least not take it too seriously. No urgency, put the kettle on. Sure they might be exaggerating.

      3. Friscondo

        The Gardai day they had three cars out and helicopter within ten minutes of report.

    3. Friscondo

      The cars sat nav would have told them when he left the scene and whether he returned.

  4. postmanpat

    Its all speculation. And you cant ask him because the fuzz were vewy afwaid of widdle swanly blade and blew him away. “whoa! watch where you point that brittle blade”

    1. Lilly

      I don’t think that’s fair Postman. A man brandishing a Stanley knife can be lethal. It’s easy for us to sit here and say we’d shoot him in the foot blah blah.

      1. postmanpat

        The guard could have ran away from him. There was plenty more guards around and they had the suspect surrounded. They didn’t have to shoot him anywhere.

          1. Cian

            “Jet Fuel doesn’t melt steel, WAKE UP CIANEEPLE!”

            D’uh! I know it wasn’t jet fuel…

            It was the *Stanley blades* – they are, like, steel. and steel can cut anything!

            Look at the Japanese and their katanas – they can cut through, like, anything.

            Interesting fact: George Lucas based the “light sabre” on the katana – because they can cut through normal steel.

          2. Repro-choice Bertie

            Interesting (?) fact, the Japanese folded the steel again and again and again because their ore was poor and the swords were prone to snapping. Japanese swordplay is not designed for a lot of blade on blade contact for exactly that reason. European swords, on the other hand, were made from good steel so could clash without fear of breaking.

        1. rotide

          I have to say imagining postmanpat grappling barechested with the knife wielding maniac and subduing him simply using his questioning intellect and icy blue eyes has me slightly flushing

        2. Nigel

          Twenty Guards chased round and round a car park by a guy with a stanley knife as one of them tries to get a bead on his legs.

  5. Catherine costelloe

    He left a note in his car giving location of victims body.
    Time will tell if he did this because his reg no was circulated.
    Evil act.

  6. Spaghetti Hoop

    “But he’d made little effort to establish himself in the neighbourhood, lined with neatly trimmed bushes and mowed lawns.”

    Is this a requirement for law-abiding citizens? I understand that detectives have to start with the neighbours to try and piece together a motive and a character study, but ‘keeping to yourself’ is an acceptable perogotive – certainly not the trait of a killer.

    1. b

      a well trimmed hedge is a sure sign of an upstanding member of the community, unless that person is freddy kruger

    2. Janet, I ate my Avatar

      I’m sure as sh×t not making mates with the neighbours :) quelle horreur

    1. Hank

      Recorded but haven’t watched it yet. It’s the best thing on telly by a country mile though. Fascinating stuff

    2. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

      Richard Osman tweeted a recommendation of it. He’s a fairly good arbiter of telly, I have to say. I missed it.

    3. Listrade

      Yes. Avoiding spoilers though for those who wish to catch up.

      Though the realisation when his friend brought up his compulsion to keep a spreadsheet of everything was great tv.

  7. Starina

    soooo…if a man kills a woman but he seemed nice she gets ignored and he gets remembered as a nice guy, and if a man rapes a woman she gets blamed and he gets character references. i see.

    1. RF

      He did get shot in the head by the cops to be fair – hard to say it’s gone well for him. I suppose you’re happy enough with that outcome if you consider it.

  8. Alors

    So a quantity surveyor is now a “construction worker”. Well, yes, actually… but it sounds as if Irish social structures are tottering!

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