Wife killer Joe O'Reilly now works as binman and has keen interest in Graham Dwyer's appeal

• Published date: 17 November 2022
• Publication title: DublinLive (Ireland)

O'Reilly, 50, who battered his wife Rachel to death in October 2004, is working in waste management inside the Midlands Prison in Co Laois. And sources say the killer, who was initially temporarily moved to the Midlands following his behaviour in Wheatfield Prison earlier this year, is now set to stay there for the foreseeable future

"There are no plans to move O'Reilly back to Wheatfield," a source said. "He's working in waste management there now and has settled there."

It is understood that as part of his duties, O'Reilly clears out bins across the prison system and is involved in composting and other manual labour jobs across the building. Meanwhile sources say O'Reilly has become obsessed with murderer Graham Dwyer's upcoming appeal.

"He has spoken to people about it. He has a keen interest in it and the outcome of it. He believes that it could help him in some way," a source said. Depraved killer Dwyer, who is serving life for the murder of childcare worker Elaine O'Hara is set to have his appeal heard next month.

It comes after a significant legal victory in the European Court of Justice for Dwyer – which found that Ireland's system of retaining and accessing mobile phone metadata breaches EU law. All of that data was key to the State's case against Dwyer for the 2012 murder of Ms O'Hara – and the ruling could now significantly help the convicted murderer in his appeal.

Joe O'Reilly was similarly convicted over crucial mobile phone evidence – though his conviction pre-dates the European law. However, sources say O'Reilly is still very interested to see how that ruling will affect Dwyer's case – and on the basis of how that works out, he may then look at his own legal options.

"There's no doubt that he's very interested in it. O'Reilly is holding on to anything that might help him overthrow his conviction. He still believes he will be found to be innocent, and he still refuses to admit his guilt to this day," a source said.

O'Reilly was moved to the Midlands Prison in August after prison bosses...