Probation Service 'deeply regrets' failings that led to convicted killer murdering property developer

Nicola Gogarty has a photograph of herself taken ten minutes before she found out her father had been murdered as she sat in an airport about to board a flight for a weekend away with friends.

“I no longer recognise that person,” she says of the picture which happened just before she received the devastating phone call that would begin a four-year nightmare. “She looks so happy and carefree. I don’t feel I will ever be that person again.”

Nicola and her husband Wayne have met with The Yorkshire Post in a coffee shop in Sheffield the day after a coroner laid out the missed opportunities by the authorities that could have prevented the death of her father John, who was stabbed 69 times in an unprovoked attack in his own home in Wombwell, South Yorkshire on July 13, 2015. His body was discovered several days later by Nicola’s brother, who is also called John.

“My brother was in a state of shock,” she recalls. “He said his shirt looks like a cheese-grater and there is blood everywhere. I wasn't thinking clearly and said, ‘Did he have a heart attack?’ He said, ‘No, it looks sinister’.”

Nicola says it was the “most horrendous day of my life” as she came to terms with losing her father, who she says was a quiet man but with “a great sense of humour and a very dry wit” who had instilled the values of hard work in his three children after a career involving being a television engineer then running his own shop and B&B before moving into property development.

Police quickly established the 65-year-old grandfather, who was originally from Ireland but had lived in Yorkshire for almost 30 years, had answered the door to a man and a woman before being attacked and forced to hand over his bank card and PIN details. The woman had gone to a nearby cashpoint to withdraw £500 from his account before returning to the house, where Mr Gogarty was stabbed to death by the man.

Shock revelation

Nicola and Wayne had flown immediately from Ireland over to the UK following the news of her father’s death but after nine days in Yorkshire had just returned home back to County Dublin when she was called by police to say two people had been charged – and was then given another devastating piece of information.

The man involved was Ian Birley, an already-convicted killer who had been let out on licence 19 months previously from his life sentence for a similarly-unprovoked murder of a pensioner called Maurice Hoyle in 1995. Birley had bludgeoned Mr Hoyle, a retired brewery clerk, with a whisky bottle before repeatedly stamping on the 69-year-old’s head. Mr Hoyle, who was also attacked in his own home by Birley at a property just four miles from where the attack on Mr Gogarty would occur 20 years later, died as a result of his dentures breaking and a piece becoming lodged in his windpipe.

Nicola says: “My first question was: why was this man walking the streets if he had done such a horrific crime in 1995?”

Birley and his girlfriend Helen Nichols were both convicted of murder in December 2015 after the trial revealed how Birley decided to rob Mr Gogarty as he was under pressure to repay a £500 drug debt he owed for crack cocaine that he had purchased with the intention of selling on but had instead consumed himself. A former girlfriend of Birley’s had been Mr Gogarty’s cleaner – resulting in him knowing where his victim lived and leading to the robbery plot.

The trial detailed how Birley and Nichols had even stolen champagne from Mr Gogarty’s house as he lay dying in his front room and had subsequently drunk it back at their flat following the killing.

But the family’s ordeal did not come to an end as they continued to seek answers about how and why Birley had been allowed back into the community to kill again – issues that were not the subject of the trial and the jury was not even told about until after the verdict after the judge ruled letting them know could prejudice the case against him.

Anger at internal report

Nicola, along with Wayne and her brother John and sister Phoebe, attended a meeting with the Probation Service in April 2016 where she says they were shown a brief internal report she felt minimised the organisation’s failings after it was revealed Birley had been repeatedly breaching the terms of his licence by drinking and taking drugs.

“They said they didn’t take ‘appropriate steps’. I felt they were trying to dress it up. When I read that, I said this is not right.”

She says the family were told they were not allowed to keep a copy of the report.

With the help of the Victim Support charity, the family contacted a legal firm called Slater and Gordon to push for an inquest into their father’s death to be ordered. Holding such a hearing after a Crown Court murder trial has taken place is such a rare occurrence that South Yorkshire coroner Christopher Dorries said it was only the second time in more than 27 years he had done so - a process that was started by Nicola writing to him to set out why she believed one was necessary.

Failings made public

The inquest finally took place last month, with Mr Dorries revealing his narrative conclusion last Friday which highlighted the missed opportunities by the Probation Service to prevent Mr Gogarty’s death.

Birley had been released on licence on December 9, 2013 after being classified as a 'medium risk' offender. The Parole Board's decision to release him did not fall within the scope of the inquest.

One of the conditions of Birley being released was a requirement for him not to drink alcohol. But on January 3, 2014, he tested positive for alcohol and was given a “final warning”. He tested positive for alcohol again on March 11 but was not subject to a further warning or recalled. In May 2014, he twice tested positive for methadone and was given a second “final warning”.

Mr Dorries said this gave Birley the impression he could “play the system”, with no consequences for breaching his licence. He said while returning Birley to jail “would not have been an absolutely guarantee against the harm that eventually befell Mr Gogarty” as he may have targeted him at a later date, “I consider it plain at least that Mr Gogarty would not have died when he did if [Birley] had been recalled to prison in May 2014.”

In November 2014, Birley was allowed to leave a supervised hostel and was no longer drug tested as there was no provision for in-house testing when an offender reported for a probation interview - a situation the Probation Service says has now changed.

In the months before Mr Gogarty’s murder, Birley was not keeping to his regular weekly probation appointments but staff claimed “he looked well and did not give the appearance of taking drugs”.