Judge sitting in Offaly sends man back to jail after hearing 'disturbing' burial plot plan

A MAN previously jailed for coercive control was put back in prison after Tullamore Circuit Court heard of a plan to construct a concrete burial chamber for himself and his partner.

Judge Keenan Johnson activated a suspended 20-month prison term which had been imposed on Clare native Martin Mulqueen after an application from the gardai who had evidence he had breached the conditions of the sentence by contacting a woman.

Mr Mulqueen, who in March 2021 was convicted of the then relatively new offence of coercive control, along with the assault of his partner, had served his sentence and resumed contact with the woman after his release, in breach of court order.

The original sentence had been imposed by Judge Francis Comerford and Mr Mulqueen appeared before Judge Johnson yesterday (Thursday, May 29) for what is known as a Section 99 application.

His victim was in court for the hearing and gave evidence herself, becoming tearful as she outlined her encounters with Mr Mulqueen.

Garda Michael Henry, Roscommon Garda Station, freplying to counsel for the DPP, Sean O'Quigley, outlined the original sentences, which amounted to a total of 54 months for various offences - which also included making threats and producing a knife - with a 20-month prison term suspended for four years. The offences were committed on various dates from late 2018 into 2019.

Garda Henry said information was then received which caused concern about the safety of the victim and it came to his attention that an enquiry had been made by Mr Mulqueen about a burial plot for himself and his “girlfriend”.

He conducted a background check and discovered 17 breaches of court orders, seven bench warrants for Mr Mulqueen, four applications for interim barring orders and one for a barring order.

Breaches had occurred in 2023 and 2024 and into 2025 and Mr Mulqueen had been placed in custody for breach of a barring order.

A key worker with Housing First who assisted the victim get accommodation of her own, said the woman told her that sometimes she would arrange the meet Mr Mulqueen at a different location after hearing he was homeless.

Her residence was not known to Mr Mulqueen but by “means unknown” he found out her full address and eircode and sent her gifts with a note signed 'Paul Williams', who was described as the man's favourite crime correspondent.

The key worker said Mr Mulqueen had written “I hope you liked your presents” and “Now, who's a good detective”.

She said he would ring the woman and leave threatening voicemails and she was in fear of her life from him.

“This was a new start for her and she didn't want him on her property at all,” said the witness.

Michael Cusack, a funeral director in Kilrush, Co Clare, gave evidence that he had buried Mr Mulqueen's father in 2012 and his mother in 2020. An “underground vault” with one vault over the other had been constructed prior to 2012.

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In December 2024 Martin Mulqueen phoned him and said it was his wish to be buried with his parents.

Mr Cusack told him that could not be done because it was a single grave and Mr Mulqueen then asked about being buried in the “old cemetery” and rang again in January and asked the funeral director to go ahead with an underground chamber of mass concrete.

Mr Mulqueen also asked Mr Cusack to “do him a favour” and ring his partner and tell her of the agreement with the funeral director to “develop a grave”. The grave was going to be for himself and his partner.

Mr Cusack rang the woman and he recalled her saying to him: “That ain't going to happen.”

Replying to Dara Foynes, SC, for Mr Mulqueen, Mr Cusack said the cemetery where the new grave would be located would be overlooking the sea and though it would be a single grave, there would be room for two caskets.

A social care worker gave evidence of hearing Mr Mulqueen have a telephone conversation with the undertaker on the afternoon of January 15 last when the man was “quite intoxicated”.

That witness said Mr Mulqueen made reference to the grave being “for her (his partner) first” but when Mr Cusack was recalled to the witness box he said he did not recall the man saying that.

In her evidence, Mr Mulqueen's former partner said she had made contact with the man because she felt sorry for him.

However, on one occasion there were 40 missed calls from him to her when she was on a train journey and between Friday, January 31 and Sunday night, February 2 last there were 360 missed phone calls and messages.

She applied for a barring order because there would be “calls after calls”, especially if she did not answer.

She said he was a “totally different” person when he had drink on him and she would start getting verbal abuse from him.

Having previously stayed one night with him in a Midlands town she allowed him to stay for a few days at her residence because she had heard he was back on the streets but they did not share a bedroom and there was no intimacy.

She also recalled having gone for a drive with him prior to being assaulted where they visited a “nice area” where there was a graveyard.

She said she had a grave sorted for herself in her own home place and confirmed telling the funeral director over the phone that a grave with her former partner “wasn't going to happen”.

Judge Johnson told the woman she struck him as being a soft hearted character and said that sometimes when a person could not protect themselves the court had to do it.

Ruling that he would grant the application activating the suspended sentence the judge said the evidence about the grave was particularly “bizarre, disturbing and concerning”.

He said the purpose of suspended sentences is to incentivise an accused person to rehabilitate and they are a very effective instrument when complied with but lose all their value if people are allowed to ignore them.

“It's abundantly clear to me that Mr Mulqueen has ignored the terms of the suspended sentence on multiple occasions,” he said.

Martin Mulqueen, originally from Ballynote, Kilrush, Co Clare, had been jailed in 2021 after the court heard he had tried to strangle his then partner, beaten her and cut her wrist with a knife. She had slept with a hammer under her pillow and he had broken her phone and tried to drive a wedge between her and her children, mother and extended family, the court heard.