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An Irish private detective accused of
exploiting the hunt for Madeleine McCann
to fund his lavish lifestyle died of an
acute subdural haemorrhage, a coroner
has heard.
Kevin Halligen, 56, gained notoriety
when his firm, Oakley International, was
used by the toddler's parents to help
search for their missing daughter.
Woking Coroner's Court heard that
paramedics were called to Mr Halligen's
home in Normandy, Surrey, on January 8,
where they performed CPR, but he could
not be saved.
A post-mortem examination showed the
cause of death was acute subdural
haemorrhage and the court heard that a
pathologist said there was "no sign of
an assault".
Mr Halligen's death was reported to the
coroner under the name of Richard
Powell, and the court heard he is also
known as Kevin Richard Halligen, Richard
Halligen and Kevin Patrick Halligan.
His occupation was given as
"intelligence and security officer".
Mr Halligen's Washington-based company
received about €310,000 of cash donated
by the public after Madeleine vanished
from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz
in May 2007 at the age of three.
He was later forced to deny claims that
the money was actually siphoned off to
pay for first-class travel, luxury hotel
suites, a chauffeur and a mansion in
Virginia in the US.
Adrian Gatton, a TV director and
investigative journalist, who made a
documentary with Halligen in 2014 for
Channel 5 -
The McCanns And The Conman - and who
knew Mr Halligen well, previously
confirmed to the Press Association that
he had sunk into alcohol addiction. |
