A twisted tale of tragedy ending in County Limerick
When burglars found two decomposing bodies in a County Limerick farmhouse, they stumbled on a tragic story of intrigue and deception
“IF YOU find us, don’t revive us”.
So read the final message of an international con artist whose decomposing body was found alongside the remains of a divorced farmer from County Limerick in what is now believed to have been a suicide pact by poisoning.
When the bodies of Cecilia Julia McKitterick (63) and Thomas Ruttle (56) were found by burglars who had broken into Mr Ruttle’s farmhouse at Boolaglass outside Askeaton early on Monday morning, the grim discovery raised as many questions as it answered.
Fearful of being implicated in the deaths, the four-man gang fled the scene before phoning Gardaí to raise the alarm. It is understood that they are likely to face criminal charges arising from the break-in.
The final sentences of a 20-page statement found near the bodies asked that its contents be read at the inquests, indicating that the burglars will have to give evidence of how they found them.
In the meantime, the cause, consequence and reasons behind the tragedy will remain the subject of speculation. In fact, formal identification of the remains wasn’t concluded until Wednesday.
In the intervening days, investigators have been piecing together the intriguing story of the con artist and her partner who are believed to have taken their own lives during a two-month period when Gardaí were trying to establish the whereabouts of the woman wanted by police in the United States and Northern Ireland.
Known locally as Julia Ruttle, the Ulster native married divorced farmer Thomas Ruttle after a brief courtship.
However she had not divorced from her previous two marriages and over the past year she was accused of defrauding local tradesmen and businesses out of thousands of euro.
She was wanted in the North of Ireland by the PSNI after she escaped from electronic tagging and broke the bail conditions on charges linked to an £18,000 fraud investigation.
Following her conviction for scamming a wealthy businessman out of $500,000 in a bogus property deal in Texas, the FBI were still interested in her whereabouts even after she was sentenced to a 27-month jail term.
More recently, local builders were led to believe she was dying from ovarian cancer when they sought €70,000 for renovating the two-storey farmhouse in Boolaglass. She promoted bogus charity events including a fundraiser for Bumbleance, the charity aiding the transportation of sick children, as well as cancer research groups.
While the cause of death may not be confirmed for at least two weeks, Gardaí in Limerick are following the line that a suicide pact ended the lives of Cecilia Julia McKitterick aka Julia Holmes Ruttle and Thomas Ruttle.
When and how still remain to be determined.
TIMELINE
1952 – February 7: Cecelia Julia McKitterick is born in Castleberg, Co Tyrone.
1971: McKitterick marries her first husband, who she has never divorced, and calls herself Julia.
1972: Abandoned her son, who now lives in Co Down, when he was six-months-old to be raised by his paternal grandparents. He hasn’t seen or spoken to Julia in more than 40 years.
1982: Holmes enters the US illegally via Canada and becomes a leading member of the Republican Party in Athens, Texas, and a high-profile member of the Lone Star State Women’s Republican Club.
1983: Marries Clyde Parrish. They met while the dad of two was going through a divorce and Holmes moved in a week later. She immediately set up work, claiming to be psychologist Dr Julia Watson, and sees clients in the family’s two-bedroom cottage.
She is violent towards his two children, regularly smacking them. She twice claimed to be pregnant, despite Clyde’s vasectomy.
2004: Holmes, now calling herself Julia Victoria Parrish, is found guilty of wire fraud in Athens, Texas.
She told businessmen she owned land in Ireland which she was selling as the “auld sod” but no land existed and she cashed substantial cheques nonetheless. She was caught by businessman Dennis Rose who took her to court after she promised him a 400 per cent return.
2005 – October: Holmes is jailed for 27 months for wire fraud and is ordered to pay $517,000 restitution to her victims. This forced her to forfeit two cars, 48 acres of land and two bank accounts. In an interview from her prison cell she claimed it was all a set-up after she fell out with influential people.
2006 – 2011: Holmes is busy in Northern Ireland wooing vulnerable widows and divorced men and spending a lot of time at Ulster Rugby soirees at Ravenhill. She delves into the social life of sporting clubs and businesses and even schmoozes members of the English rugby team after claiming she was a “motivational practitioner” who can improve their performance.
2011 – January: Holmes fails to return to Downpatrick Magistrates Court after being bailed and electronically tagged. She is charged with fraud totalling £18,000.
A warrant is issued for her arrest after she fails to come back to face charges of fraud by misrepresentation. She assumes the name Julie Greer and poses as a High Priestess Witch on Facebook and adds Pagans and Spiritualists from Liverpool.
2011 – April: On April Fool’s Day, despite having been married for 40 years, she goes through a wedding ceremony with Tom Ruttle, a beekeeper from Askeaton, Co Limerick. She calls herself Julie and takes his surname. It is Holmes’ second bigamous marriage.
2011 – August: A couple from Liverpool stay with Holmes and Tom Ruttle for a weekend in Bouliglass, Askeaton, Co Limerick, and hear a series of claims by Holmes that she: came back to Ireland after her husband shot himself after being diagnosed with cancer;
she ran a printing business in Texas and her step-daughter was in charge of, providing her with an income, and;
at the age of 59, she was three months pregnant with Tom Ruttle’s child and showed her house guests a scan of a baby – a claim that the baby was still born followed and a headstone is erected at a local graveyard.
2013 – May: PSNI launch new appeal in news outlets for information about Holmes’ whereabouts.
She starts wearing a blonde wig claiming she has cancer and tells new friends she and Tom Ruttle have been married for 30 years and kept bees during that time. Irish Bee Sensations wins awards fro its artisan “wild honey” despite being repackaged imported supermarket honey that the con woman peddled as her own.
2015 – Late March / Early April: Gardai believe Tom Ruttle and Holmes have absconded after activity at their rented home ceases. Contact was made with a local man in early April and there is activity on a twitter account linked to her event organising
2015 – May 18: Tom Ruttle and Julia Holmes’ decomposing bodies are discovered by burglars ransacking the farmhouse.
Reactions to a shocking human tragedy
INDELIBLE marks have been made on the lives of those Cecilia McKitterick crossed paths with during her scamming years.
The FBI say they’re finished with her.
The PSNI are still looking for her but know of the situation in Limerick and await the final and official confirmation of the identities of the bodies found.
Her first born son, abandoned at just six-months said that “this is typical of her. I feel utterly cheated that she has been allowed the easy route out after a life of crime and chaos.
“I always hoped she would end up in court when life caught up with her. But there’s no chance now that anyone will get anything from her because she’s dead.
“I’m shocked but not surprised that this awful incident has happened.
“I never wanted anything to do with the person I know as Celia McKitterick, who is also known as Julia Holmes and by many other false names. She abandoned me at six months and I was brought up by my loving grandparents.
“I reserve my main sorrow for Kimberly Parrish and her sister in Texas who had to live with my biological mother and who were subjected to her attention. I’m so sorry they went through that.
“That’s it for me and my family. Our nightmare is finally over.”
Her step-daughter in the US, Kimberly Parrish-Sanders, said: “The woman I know, the woman who made my life a misery and almost broke my poor father, would never in my opinion have killed herself. She was a survivor who would do anything to escape questions about her past.
“Now that she’s dead we know she cannot continue to ruin lives, however, she’ll never have to pay for her crimes, either.
“I feel so sorry for that poor man’s family. We always feared she would poison my dad but we managed to escape her clutches before she managed anything like that. The whole situation is just horrible.”
“As you can appreciate, Askeaton is a community still in shock,” said local Independent Councillor Emmet O’Brien.
“This is a very sad time for the community but I have no doubt that the people here will, as they have done so many times before, rally around and provide the support and assistance to the families of those affected by this tragedy. For now, we can but offer our condolences to the family and friends of the Ruttle family.”
Locals were shocked to hear of the discovery in the rural setting. Elma Barry said: “Tom Ruttle was left that house by his mother – he was a respectable man, a mechanic and worked with the old FAS for a time and from a good family – it’s sad to think he fell foul of this”, a neighbour said.
Bungling burglars to be charged
THE burglars who stumbled over two decomposing bodies at a county Limerick farmhouse are to be charged with the break-in that uncovered the end to a con artist and her locally respected partner, it is understood.
Gardai have confirmed, that despite raising the alarm about the grim discovery, the gang of four are now likely to face prosecution as the instructions of the DPP have been sought.
Sometime in the early Monday morning last, the gang broke in to what they thought was an empty farmhouse in search of loot and cash.
Little did they know that two bodies were decomposing in an upstairs bedroom.
Possibly terrified at being implicated in the deaths, they called Newcastle West Garda station and fled.
However, Gardai say they are aware of the mens’ identities and that they will be arrested and questioned and could yet be brought before the courts on charges related to the break-in.
Furthermore, it is now understood that the men who made the discovery, in light of any convictions and imposition of a prison sentence, would be brought from custody to give evidence at the inquest hearings of the Ruttle couple.
Who was Cecilia Julia McKitterick?
A MOVIE script is likely, because the story is like something out of Hollywood, but who was the woman born as Cecilia Julia McKitterick is anyone’s guess.
Originally from Northern Ireland, the lady who must recently went under the names of Julia Holmes and Julia or Creon Ruttle, used dozens of different aliases to get by in life. She did so with the perfect story and guise for every occasion and she did more than just get by.
But hiding in the background, were more than 20 previous convictions for fraud.
She has been sought by the PSNI since she absconded in 2011 after being charged in relation to an £18,000 fraud.
In 2006 she was deported from the US where she was convicted in connection with a $500,000 property scam in Texas, which involved seeking investments from friends for non existing Irish properties and development lands.
The con woman had been living in the house with Tom Ruttle in County Limerick for the past number of years and became joint owner of his home in 2012.
She repackaged honey and sold it as authentically something else while raising funds for charity but never handing over the proceeds.
The scandals emerged and the couple had not been seen in public for a number of weeks as media reports circled the con woman’s fraudulent activities.
Monday’s grim discovery was made by a travelling criminal gang who found the bodies after they broke into the recently renovated farmhouse.
The couple were fully clothed when they were found lying on a bed side by side.
Trails of deception lay in her wake.
Builders left unpaid, charities duped of funds and an award winning honey company built on a false promise of authenticity.
A still birth baby, ovarian cancer and false claims all went to the backbone of her existence as the glamourous granny wore a deceitful but believable mask to hide her true nature and guile.
Hand written notes, co signed by the deceased, lay in the house with instructions to the finder and a request that they be read out at the Coroner’s Court in due course.
The investigation, led by Supt Tom O’Connor at Newcastle West and Det Inspector Eamon O’Neill of Henry Street, is not closed yet – DNA and dental records will confirm their identites.
But the 63-year-old who died in recent weeks – in what is a tragic tale – is now believed to have done so by her own hand.
