THE parents of an Irish woman who was murdered by her partner on holiday have warned her killer is “another Joe O’Reilly or Richard Satchwell”.
Mum-of-one Kirsty Ward, 36, was strangled to death with a hair straightener power cord by evil Keith Byrne after she told him she was leaving him in 2023.
Psycho Byrne was convicted of murder by a Spanish jury and sentenced last year to 15 years in prison, to the dismay of Kirsty’s loved ones who hit out at the sentence.
In an interview with RTE’s Prime Time, parents Jackie and John opened up about the warning signs and red flags they feel were missed.
Part of the reason the couple agreed to speak publicly was to raise awareness of coercive and controlling behaviour.
And they told of their fears for when their daughter’s killer will be back on the streets, stressing that people need to know exactly how dangerous Byrne is.
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Kirsty’s mum Jackie Gough explained: “He’s going to return home at some point to this country when his sentence is finished and complete.
“He’s going to take up a job. He’s going to take up a relationship.
“People need to know Keith Byrne’s name and how dangerous he is.”
Husband John agreed: “This is what we’re dealing with here.
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“This is another Joe O’Reilly. This is another (Richard) Satchwell. Same character traits. And all of that came out in the court.”
Ex-soldier Byrne, who lived in Duleek, Co Meath, was convicted of murdering Kirsty in May of last year, despite claiming she had taken her own life.
He strangled her to death with a hair straightener power cord at their four-star hotel in a popular resort in Salou on July 2, 2023.
Sentencing judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez ruled the fact Byrne and Kirsty had been in a stable eight-month relationship made the horror crime more serious.
However, she said the convicted killer’s consumption of alcohol and drugs before he murdered Kirsty diminished his cognitive faculties and was a prevailing mitigating factor.
Speaking to presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, Jackie admitted: “I thought maybe he’d break her heart. I never thought for one moment that she was in danger.”
She also told of the moment they found out Kirsty had died when cops arrived at her door.
John was home alone, recovering from open-heart surgery, while Jackie was out with their youngest daughter, Zoe.
She recalled: “As soon as I arrived, it was obvious there was something wrong.”
MITIGATING FACTOR
Jackie remembers seeing the two plain-clothes Garda officers and instantly knowing what had happened to her beloved child.
“I said, ‘What has he done?’”
She added. “I knew.”
Speaking after the verdict last July, Kirsty’s parents pointed out that Byrne’s drug and alcohol abuse was used as a mitigating factor even though he had claimed she had taken her own life.
The victim’s parents believe the 15-year sentence detracted from the seriousness of the crime, and insisted that it ignored what the jury decided.
This is another Joe O’Reilly. This is another (Richard) Satchwell. Same character traits. And all of that came out in the court.”
Kirsty’s father John
Heartbroken Jackie said: “He always maintained that she committed suicide. He always maintained that this was her fault, that she did this.”
‘NO REMORSE’
John added: “And that he found her that way, which wasn’t correct and which the jury saw through.”
Twisted Byrne even recorded a chilling video from custody following his arrest insisting “the truth will come out”, only referring to Kirsty as “the girl”.
Jackie concluded: “He never mentioned her name. There was no remorse or no admission and totally cowardly in his accusations.
“His behaviour on the video was disgusting, that he could not even then make some mention of her and show some remorse or some love towards the woman he was in a relationship with.”
- For the full interview watch Prime Time tonight at 9:35pm on RTE One or on the RTE Player