Thursday, July 17, 2025 - A millionaire farmer who died just a day after marrying his girlfriend was embalmed with "undue haste," a coroner's inquest in Tullamore, County Offaly, has heard.
Joseph Grogan, 75, passed away at his home around 3 p.m. on
April 15, 2023, a day after marrying Lisa Flaherty, 50, at a registry office.
Mr Grogan had been diagnosed with stage four, high-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
earlier that year and had undergone chemotherapy. While he developed infections
after two of the four treatment rounds, he was said to be responding well.
Mr Grogan's remains were embalmed within hours of his death,
a move Coroner Raymond Mahon said complicated efforts to determine a definitive
cause of death. The embalming occurred before a post-mortem could be properly
conducted, preventing toxicology tests from being performed.
The inquest heard from Peter Jones, solicitor for Mr
Grogan’s 90-year-old aunt, who said there remained “an awful lot of unanswered
questions.” He criticised the speed at which the body was removed and embalmed.
Barrister Damien Tansey, representing Mr Grogan’s cousins, also pushed for a
forensic investigation, calling the death “sudden and unexpected.” He noted
local concern and medical community unease had not been addressed.
Pathologist Dr Charles d’Adhemar concluded cancer and organ
failure were not the direct cause of death. He cautioned that the three
medications prescribed to Mr Grogan could depress the respiratory and nervous
systems if not administered correctly. However, due to the embalming, drug
levels in the body could not be tested.
Mr Tansey challenged claims made by Ms Flaherty about the
extent and duration of her relationship with Mr Grogan. She said they had been
together since she was 16, a claim the Grogan family found distressing. The
family also raised concerns about secrecy surrounding the marriage, which even
Ms Flaherty’s sister reportedly did not know about until the day after it
occurred.
The coroner, however, declined to rule on the validity of
the marriage, focusing solely on the circumstances surrounding the death.
Representing Ms Flaherty, Stephen Byrne rejected the
suggestion that she had any role in Mr Grogan’s death, arguing the threshold
for a criminal investigation had not been met. He said Ms Flaherty had stepped
up to care for her husband when others had not, and criticised the inquest for
subjecting her to harsh scrutiny.
On the day of Mr Grogan’s death, a neighbour and psychiatric
nurse with palliative care training, who is also Ms Flaherty’s sister, was
called to the house. She was told that an ambulance had been summoned and that
paramedics advised palliative services would not be available until Monday. Mr
Grogan had allegedly said he preferred to remain at home.
Further questions arose over how the body was released. Mr
Martin Keyes, a lorry driver and part-time undertaker, said he transported Mr
Grogan’s body to Longford around 7:30 p.m. after being told by Ms Flaherty that
a doctor had given permission. Mr Keyes later admitted he had not seen a death
certificate and acknowledged that the doctor on call, not being Mr Grogan’s GP,
could not have given such consent.
The coroner ultimately ruled that Mr Grogan died of natural
causes linked to a probable infection, compounded by a compromised immune
system due to cancer and its treatment. While recognising "valid
concerns" over the care Mr Grogan received, the coroner noted that the
deceased had been reluctant to seek medical attention.
The three-day inquest concluded on July 16, with Ms Flaherty
leaving the court in tears. She stands to inherit Mr Grogan’s 220-acre farm in
Screggan, Tullamore, valued at €5.5 million.
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