Convicted garda killer Pearse McAuley found dead in Tyrone home
Pearse McAuley was a member of the IRA gang who killed Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996 during the attempted robbery of a post office van in Co Limerick
Convicted IRA garda killer and domestic abuser Pearse McAuley has been found dead.
A dangerous individual and a feared IRA gunman, McAuley served multiple prison sentences for terrorist and criminal activity.
He had been released from prison two years ago following a vicious attack on his then wife, Sinn Féin TD Pauline Tully.
He was found dead in his home in his native Strabane, county Tyrone on Monday, March 18.
McAuley was a member of an IRA gang who attempted to rob a a post office van in Adare, county Limerick in 1996, resulting in the death of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe.
He had previously shot his way out of Brixton Prison with Nessan Quinlivan in 1991 while awaiting trial on charges related to a suspected plot to assassinate brewing executive Charles Tidbury.
He was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the manslaughter of Detective McCabe, serving 10 and a half years before his release in 2009.
Most recently in 2015, McAuley was sentenced to 12 years for stabbing his wife, schoolteacher Pauline Tully, in a prolonged attack on Christmas Eve 2014.
The pair first met when Ms Tully was on a Sinn Féin delegation meeting McAuley and his fellow gang members in Castlerea, and married six months later in 2003.
They had separated by the time of the brutal attack, which lasted over three hours at Ms Tully's home before she was able to crawl to a neighbour's house for help while McAuley slept.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Tully said "she would be living in fear of her life for the rest of her days".
More recently he developed links with the Hutch Organised Crime Group and ,while in prison for the assault of Ms Tully, was visited multiple times by Hutch gang member and former Sinn Féin TD Jonathan Dowdall, giving him contacts among dissident republicans in Northern Ireland.