Brothers jailed for 27 years for the murder of elderly man
Two brothers who targeted elderly people to rob were jailed for a total of 27 years today for the killing of an 81-year-old bachelor farmer who was beaten to death for £45.
Sentencing John Doyle to15 years and his brother Christopher Doyle to 12 years for the manslaughter of Co Meath farmer Paddy Logan on June 5th 2000, Mr Justice Paul Carney said no sentence he could impose would adequately deal with the horror of this case.
They were further sentenced to three years for the robbery of Mr Logan’s 85-year-old brother, Peter, who was injured in the attack.
The court heard that John Doyle was previously convicted of stabbing an 84-year-old man to death in Dublin in 1984. He was also convicted of the burglary of an elderly couple in England - an offence that happened after the killing of Mr Logan.
Christopher Doyle also has lengthy convictions for violent crimes, including that of beating an elderly spinster after he broke into the bedroom of her home in England.
The defendants are from a family of settled travellers whose mother sent John out to steal when he was seven years old, the court heard.
John Doyle (35) of no fixed abode and Christopher Doyle (29) formerly of Fatima Mansions Dublin whose last address was St Fintan’s Grove, Lucan Co Dublin, had denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Paddy Logan .
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday Peter Logan had to be helped to the stand to give evidence of how his life was destroyed by the killing of his brother. The court heard he sustained a fractured nose in the attack and since then is on anti-depressants. He also suffers from recurring flashbacks
and nightmares.
The two elderly brothers lived alone in the farmhouse at Castlejordan, Co Meath, where they had farmed since boyhood. They had been listening to a match on the radio when Christopher and John Doyle broke in demanding money.
"I’m bad these two years after it. They killed Paddy, 1’m lucky to be alive. We were going along great," Peter Logan told the court.
He farmed at Castlejordan since the age of nine. The brothers sent to the cattle marts together and sometimes enjoyed a quiet pint in Castlejordan.
Asked by prosecutor Tom O’Connell SC if he had returned to the family farm since the killing, he replied: "No. I never went out near it."
He now lives with his niece who extended her own home to accommodate him.
The court heard that the Doyle brothers targeted Paddy and Peter Logan in January 2000 -five months before the killing. John Doyle received a tip off from another settled traveller that the Logans did not use banks and kept their money in the house.
However, when John Doyle went to the house alone, Paddy fired two shots from his shotgun and he ran off.
Superintendent Peter Wheeler, Tullamore, told the court that both accused admitted their part in the robbery bout each blamed the other for the fatal attack on Paddy Logan.
He said that on the day of the killing Christopher Doyle met John and his partner Jennifer Dunne and all three drove out to the Logan house. Jennifer Dunne waited nearby while the brothers went inside. Ms Dunne has already pleaded guilty to burglary in connection with the same incident and was
sentenced to 11 months suspended.
The superintendent said that in custody, Christopher Doyle admitted they “were going out to rob two old fellows who had a lot of money”. When they broke in, the elderly brothers were beside the fireplace, listening to a match on the radio.
Superintendent Wheeler said Paddy Logan was beaten severely. He died from an accumulation of blood around the heart caused by rupture of the aortic wall.
Post mortem results showed that the violent assault led to raised blood pressure which caused the rupture.
After killing Paddy Logan, the Doyle brothers took £45 (57 euro) from Peter Logan’s pockets before escaping.
The court heard that both defendants were heroin users. Between them, they have 13 children.
The court also heard that John Doyle was repatriated from a prison in England where he was serving a three-year sentence from the burglary and theft of (£11sterling) from an elderly couple in Exeter.
He is now in protective custody in Mountjoy Prison and spends 23 hours a day in solitary
confinement.
At the age of 17, he was jailed for 3 years by the Central Criminal Court for the manslaughter of 84-year-old Matthew Coates in Clondalkin, Dublin in June 1984.
In 1996, Christopher Doyle was jailed for three years by Bournmouth Crown Court after he broke into the bedroom of an elderly spinster and beat her around the head while demanding money. This victim died three months later.
Garda sources said the brothers were career criminals who went on reconnaissance here and in the UK looking for elderly and vulnerable people to rob.
Jailing the two, Mr Justice Carney said: "For the sake of £45" the life of one man was snuffed out and his brother had his destroyed.
They then engaged in the "cut throat defence" of blaming each other. In taking account of the "horror of this crime" Mr Justice Carney said he also had to take account of the fact that John Doyle "has been here before".
He sentenced him to 15 years with the final year suspended and Christopher Doyle to 12 years.
Speaking after the hearing, Peter Logan said he thought the sentence was fair but that that the convicted men ruined his life when they killed his brother Paddy.
