Author and journalist Lord Kilbracken dies

Tributes were paid to author and journalist, Lord Kilbracken of Killegar in Co Leitrim, who died aged 85 today.

Tributes were paid to author and journalist, Lord Kilbracken of Killegar in Co Leitrim, who died aged 85 today.

John Raymond Godley was the author of a number of books including a biography of the notorious Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren, and Bring Back My Stringbag, an account of his years as a Swordfish pilot.

John Kilbracken, as he liked to be called, was also a hereditary peer and an active member of the House of Lords in the past. His family confirmed he died at 11am today in hospital following a short illness.

His wartime marriage to Penelope Reyne, daughter of an Admiral in the Royal Navy, was dissolved in 1948.

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He later married Susan Heazlewood. He is survived by a son Christopher, who succeeds to the title, a daughter Lisa, and Sean, who was born in 1981 and lives at the family's ancestral home, Killegar, on the outskirts of Carrigallen in Co Leitrim.

Lord Kilbracken became the third baron and inherited the Georgian stately home and 350-acre estate, Killegar, upon his father's death in 1950.

He had supported Labour in Sligo-Leitrim area during the 1990s and Declan Bree, a councillor on Sligo County Council, said he was saddened to hear of his death.