Deadly Silence: A Sister’s Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe
Jacqueline Connolly
May 2025 · Hachette UK
5.0star
14 reviewsreport
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About this ebook
The heart-breaking account of a search for the truth behind the brutal killings that shocked a nation.
On 29 August 2016, devastating news hit the headlines that an entire family was found dead in a rural community. For Jacqueline Connolly, this was a deeply personal and life-shattering tragedy, as she discovered her sister Clodagh, along with her nephews Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by their husband and father Alan Hawe.
Here, Jacqueline discloses the circumstances leading up to these tragic events, including Hawe's manipulation and coercive control of her unsuspecting sister.
Her gripping account tells of her family's painful struggle to expose critical failures in the initial garda investigation, as they uncovered the terrible darkness behind Hawe's 'pillar-of-the-community' facade.
Jacqueline also reveals many of the shocking, unpublished findings of the recent Garda Serious Crime Review, details that challenge our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, while laying bare a mass murder - Ireland's largest murder-suicide - that was cold-bloodedly planned for a year in advance.
Deadly Silence is both the story of a sister's determination to find truth and justice, and an inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss.
On 29 August 2016, devastating news hit the headlines that an entire family was found dead in a rural community. For Jacqueline Connolly, this was a deeply personal and life-shattering tragedy, as she discovered her sister Clodagh, along with her nephews Liam, Niall and Ryan, were killed by their husband and father Alan Hawe.
Here, Jacqueline discloses the circumstances leading up to these tragic events, including Hawe's manipulation and coercive control of her unsuspecting sister.
Her gripping account tells of her family's painful struggle to expose critical failures in the initial garda investigation, as they uncovered the terrible darkness behind Hawe's 'pillar-of-the-community' facade.
Jacqueline also reveals many of the shocking, unpublished findings of the recent Garda Serious Crime Review, details that challenge our understanding of domestic violence and family annihilators, while laying bare a mass murder - Ireland's largest murder-suicide - that was cold-bloodedly planned for a year in advance.
Deadly Silence is both the story of a sister's determination to find truth and justice, and an inspiring personal journey of healing from severe trauma and loss.
Ratings and reviews
5.0
14 reviews
tilly 21
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May 17, 2025
trauma is never easy, it revisits you at the lowest points in your life, it destroys your self-worth, your confidence in yourself, and your health, mental and physical. how this family dealt with the trauma and the walls that stifled them, is a lesson in not being silenced that is well worth learning. in spite of all they suffered they carried on with the intent to get questions answered, to try to understand what and why their family was visited with such horrific murders, suicides and despair and to not let those at the top stop them. I have so much admiration for them and wish them nothing but the best for their futures. I just want to say that they should not have been put through this trauma by the authorities who seemed to have gone out of their way to bury the shortcomings of those on the ground on that terrible day, and to this day Drew Harris is still covering up these shortcomings. God bless you and keep you all and in memory of Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan, they mattered and the truth must come out
Nuala Hoey
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June 28, 2025
Compelling, tragic, respectful and admirable.
Ashleen Kelly
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May 30, 2025
fantastic book, really well written.
About the author
Jacqueline Connolly was born in rural Ireland and raised as one of three children. She works as a Senior HR Professional. She holds a master's degree in Human Resources Management and, inspired by her own experiences, has conducted valuable research into vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and burnout for Irish healthcare workers.
She is an advocate for counselling, healing and refusing to let catastrophe and adversity define us as people. As a result of her devastating loss, she is also passionate about raising awareness of domestic violence and the insidious nature of coercive control and other forms of domestic abuse.
She lives with her son in Cavan.
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