Patrick Dillon can be named after child murder order lifted

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A judge granted an application to lift an order preventing Patrick Dillon and his 11-year-old nephew, Brooklyn Colbert, from being publicly identified in the child’s murder case. The proceedings were reported on 10 May 2021.

Dillon admitted murdering Brooklyn on 3 November 2019. At the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Michael White sentenced him to the mandatory term of life imprisonment. The sentence hearing was told that Dillon struck Brooklyn with a hammer and stabbed him 27 times.

Mr Justice White had previously ordered that neither Dillon nor Brooklyn be identified because the victim was a child and there was a family relationship between them. RTÉ applied to set aside the order after a change in the law removed the general restriction on naming deceased children, subject to exceptional circumstances and existing specific orders.

Yvonne Quinn BL, for Dillon, said he was aware of the application and that there appeared to be no legal basis for an objection. Michael Delaney SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the Director consented to the application after careful consideration. Mr Justice Paul Coffey granted the order sought by the broadcaster.