For Valerie

In June 2019, Valerie French Kilroy was brutally murdered by her husband at their home near Westport, while her three young sons lay in bed. She was the third woman to lose her life at the hands of a partner in Ireland that year. For her brother David and the rest of her family it was the beginning of a battle against a system unprepared to protect the three innocent children whose father remains their legal guardian, despite being convicted of their mother’s murder.

From the shock of hearing of his sister’s death and the immediate aftermath to the multiple criminal trials before the guilty verdict was delivered, David provides a unique insight into some of the issues faced by victim’s families in the aftermath of fatal domestic violence.

With every chapter, For Valerie confronts the darkest corners of grief, the love that endures beyond loss and the fierce determination of a family to preserve Valerie’s legacy. This is a tribute to her life, and a journey no reader will soon forget.