Father who ‘stabbed wife and three sons to death left notes complaining about work pressures’
Deputy principal Alan Hawe had written that he was feeling stressed about work with the father of three due to return back to school on Tuesday
A DAD believed to have slaughtered his wife and three young children had been under pressure to perform at work, according to handwritten notes.
Deputy principal Alan Hawe fatally attacked his entire family, stabbing his wife Clodagh to death before killing his three children, Liam, 13, Niall, 11 and Ryan, 6, while in their bedrooms before hanging himself.
It has since been revealed that the tormented father had left a note for his relatives, revealing he had been under pressure at work.
The sealed letter, which was written by the deputy principal of the Castlerahan National School outside Ballyjamesdugg in Co Caravan, was taken from the home.
Authorities also discovered other scribbled notes revealing the father was feeling pressure at work.
He was due to return to school on Tuesday.
Police searching the home have found a hatchet, believed to have been used in the attack, with forensics also removing a number of knives from the home.
It has previously been revealed that Hawe is thought to have left a note at the back door with the instruction: “Call the Gardai.”
Alan Hawe is then thought to have taken his own life before officers who arrived at the scene encountered the shocking sight of the young lads and their mum lying dead.
said the father was a kind and decent person.
He said: "Alan never put a step wrong. When he started, he finished.
"If he said he would support you, he did. He was a man of his word and a good man and that's why this is all so confusing."
Gardai suspect that the boys — Liam, 13, Niall, 11, and six-year-old Ryan — were murdered in their beds as they slept.
They believe School Vice-Principal Hawe Alan Hawe, from Barconny, in Ballyjamesduff, stabbed his wife downstairs first before knifing his three boys at the family home yesterday morning.
Local man Mr Hawe, who is well known in the area, is then believed to have hanged himself.
Heartbreaking images emerged this evening as several coffins were removed from the house and placed into a waiting convoy of hearses.
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Locals who saw the family at a football match at nearby Castlerahan GAA club on Sunday afternoon said that there was no sign of the horror to come.
Alan, aged in his 40s, and the younger two children were due back at Castlerahan National School yesterday morning after the summer break.
His wife Clodagh, in her 30s, who was a teacher at Oristown National School, was also about to start the new term.
A source said: “Alan Hawe was well known in the area and was well respected because of his work in the school and also in GAA circles.”
In a press briefing at Ballyjamesduff Garda Station, Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll said two of the deceased were found in a downstairs room and three were found upstairs.
A Garda spokesman said: "The Garda investigation is ongoing but at this stage we are not looking for anyone else in relation to the deaths."
Shocked town councillor Paddy Smith said the whole town is still coming to terms with the tragic news.
He said: “It’s just complete shock. I only heard about it and rang a couple of people and everyone is shocked.
“If there is five people dead, it’s tragic, no matter what."
Mr Smith told Independent.ie: “It’s just hard to get your head around the whole thing."
At a press conference this afternoon, Assistant Commissioner O'Driscoll added: "We believe all the answers are in that house.
"We are working along very definite lines of inquiry.
"One person in that house may have been responsible for the death of the others."
Police investigations are continuing.
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