Killer Joe O’Reilly taken to hospital by team of prison officers over illness

Evil killer Joe O’Reilly spent a day outside prison for the first time since his conviction, we can reveal. He became unwell in prison last January and was taken to Tullamore Hospital for tests accompanied by a team of prison officers.

It is understood that he was not kept in overnight as doctors were able to treat him. This was the first time the notorious killer was let out of jail after being given a life sentence in 2007 for the murder of his beautiful young wife Rachel at their home in Naul, Co Dublin, three years earlier.

She was bludgeoned to death in what her husband thought was the perfect murder. He was having an affair at the time – but his mobile phone put him at the murder scene and the jury at the Central Criminal Court didn’t believe his side of the story.

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A prison source said: “Joe got ill and was taken from the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise where he is serving his sentence to the hospital, half an hour away, in Tullamore.

“The medical staff were able to get to the bottom of it and there was no need for him to be kept overnight or to go back again. A team of prison officers was sent with him to ensure that he did not try to escape. This is normal practice.”

The 52 year old brutal killer has never admitted to the murder and was recently told by parole officers that he will not be freed until he confesses his guilt. He has served 17 years in jail but has been turned down for early release at least three times.

He originally served his sentence in Wheatfield Prison but was then moved to the Midlands in recent years after falling out with other inmates. O’Reilly has found God behind bars and has become a Jehovah Witness. He is regularly seen reading his bible.

Rachel’s father Jim Callaly died suddenly last February shortly after his killer son in law took ill. He always maintained that O’Reilly should never be released and that he would be a danger to society if he was ever freed.

He and his wife Rose spent the past 20 years fighting for justice for their daughter and helped to ensure O’Reilly did not get early parole. Mother of two Rachel was only 30 years old when she was killed after dropping her kids off to school.

O’Reilly beat her with dumbbells and staged her death so it looked like a violent burglary. He even went on the Late Late Show urging the public with any information about his wife’s horrific death to come forward.

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