MICHAEL Jordan kissed his wife Hilda intensely, held her by the shoulders, then looked deeply into her eyes as he wished her goodnight for the final time. Hours later, he set hay barns at her family’s farm ablaze, shot dead her only brother, George Rothwell, and then took his own life.

Michael Jordan

The tragic events surrounding the murder of Mr Rothwell (68) and the suicide of his 52-year-old brother-in-law, Mr Jordan, at Ballycormac, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow on 22 February 2012 were outlined on Tuesday 24 September at the inquests into their deaths at Carlow Courthouse. County coroner Dr Brendan Doyle and a jury of seven heard evidence from a number of witnesses in the case, including deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis and a key witness in the case, detective garda Ronan Lawler, a ballistics expert.
After an hour of evidence, the jury recorded a verdict of unlawful killing in the case of George Rothwell and a verdict of suicide in the case of Michael Jordan.
Ballistic evidence was critical in the case, with findings from Clare Greaney, forensic scientist at the state laboratory “very strongly supporting” the view that Michael Jordan shot dead George Rothwell. Evidence of gun residue found on Mr Jordan’s hands and face and the presence of nine discharged carriages in his pockets were consistent with the shotgun size that fatally injured Mr Rothwell, as well as gunshots found within the kitchen of Mr Rothwell’s home at Ballycormac House, Bagenalstown.

The jury also heard that a box of matches and tissues were also found in Mr Jordan’s pockets. A further discharged carriage was also found in Mr Jordan’s 12-gauge shotgun, located close to the scene where Mr Jordan took his own life by hanging.
The court heard how Mr Jordan tied a rope with a loose knot from the raised front loader of his tractor in a shed at his home in Glenaharry, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow.
Deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis stated that Mr Rothwell sustained four shotgun wounds, one to the neck, which was “incompatible with life”, a wound inflicted from a range of three feet. A second wound to his right flank/buttocks was delivered from a range of eight to ten feet; a third wound was to the right shoulder, extending to the face; and the fourth to the left shoulder also extended to the face.
He stated that Mr Rothwell died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Hilda Jordan took the stand while her deposition to gardaí was read into evidence. She described how her husband Michael and brother George had neighbouring farms, often helping each other on their respective lands. She stated that on the Sunday prior to the tragic events, the three had shared dinner together, with George coming to the Jordan home for Sunday dinner, as he had every Sunday since she married Michael 20 years earlier. The two men discussed farming over lunch, as they often did, she stated.
The previous Thursday, the three had gone to Gowran Races together, where Hilda had a horse running.
Hilda described how, on 21 February 2012, she had spoken to George at Ballycormac House, their family farm, last seeing him at approximately 6pm. She described how, later that evening, she and Michael had dinner and then watched television together as normal until approximately 11.45pm. Hilda told gardaí that Michael had said there was a cow calving and he would have to check the animal. Hilda stated that she didn’t think anything of it because this was something he regularly did with livestock at the farm.
When she left to go to bed, Michael kissed his wife intensely, held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, staring.
“The kiss was way different than normal … it took me by surprise,” Hilda’s statement read. Hilda described how, in the week prior to the tragic events, he had come home on occasion to find Michael sitting in the dark with no TV on. He had told her that he “wished it was dark more often”. Hilda described the morning of 22 February 2012 and waking at 7.30am to find Michael was not in the house. She stated that she couldn’t say if he’d come to bed at all that night.
She started making the breakfast and expected Michael in at 8am or 8.20am. Hilda’s statement outlined how, at approximately 8.25am, she received a call on her mobile phone from a neighbour, Danny Maher, saying there was a fire at Ballycormac House; minutes later, she received another call from Joe Wall.
“I told Joe I’d go up to Ballycormac. I smelt a rat when he said ‘don’t come up on your own’,” her statement read.
Hilda then described how she searched for Michael around their farm but, unable to find him, assumed he must have been helping at the fire in Ballycormac.
At Ballycormac House, Hilda was informed by neighbours that her brother George was dead. She first assumed that he had been burnt in the fire. She then informed gardaí at the scene that she couldn’t locate her husband.
Joe Wall and Francis Kearney then began searching for Michael and found his body in a shed alongside the home he and Hilda had shared for 20 years.
In her deposition, Hilda stated that Michael suffered from depression but was not on medication. “He was a worrier. He worried about money even though there was no reason to be,” she said. The coroner’s court heard that the only loan Michael Jordan had was a tractor loan and he had just two payments left to make.
Michael had also suffered the loss of livestock in 2012 – “12 calves in a row” and “took it very bad”. Hilda stated that she urged him to see his GP following an incident where Michael went missing, but as she and neighbours were looking for him in the fields, he emerged from a ditch saying he had just laid down and fallen asleep.

However, in more recent times, “things had settled down” she said, and he “seemed alright”. Hilda stated that George was a different character and was more “laid back” than Michael.