TO those who knew him in his public life as a businessman and swimming administrator, Frank McCann was a charismatic figure. Tall, thin and somewhat severe in appearance, he was also a charming, articulate and very persuasive individual, sure in his opinions and confident of getting his own way.
His obvious ambition found its outlet in the world of swimming. A former international in the sport himself, he used his organisational and social talents to become both vice president of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association and president of the Leinster Swimming Association, a position he held at the time of his wife's death. The former post entitled him to automatic accession to presidency of the IASA until he ruled himself out for personal reasons.
These reasons may have included allegations that he had fathered a child with a 17 year old swimmer, a claim he has denied. The late Father Michael Cleary is believed to have negotiated a financial settlement on behalf of the girl's family, but a curtailment of McCann's career in the sport could have been part of the price for keeping the affair secret. Former friends believe he cultivated a deliberately conservative public image which would have been incompatible with a scandal of that kind.
His reputation extended to clean living. He neither drank nor smoked and allowed no one to smoke in the family home not even his wife. He was tough minded in his business dealings, initiating a number of legal disputes over payments. He was said to have been reluctant to pay debts himself but zealous in his pursuit of those who owed him money.
Gardai believe he used his personal skills and cunning to first plan the deaths of his wife and 18 month old niece, and later to cover up his involvement.
They believe the elaborate plan began with intentionally causing gas leaks at his Butterfield Avenue home and ended with elaborately misleading statements to investigating gardai.
Born in 1960, he is one of five children four sons and a daughter of Joan and the late Frank McCann. The family originally lived on Fernhill Road, Manor Estate, and subsequently moved to Wainsfort Road, Terenure. He attended Templeogue College to Leaving Certificate.
After leaving school he followed his father into Irish Distillers as an apprentice cooper. After being made redundant in 1982, he set up a business Irish CraftCoopers, based in the Greenhills industrial estate with an older colleague. He was said to have bought out his partner for £9,000.
The factory was badly damaged in a malicious fire in November 1989. According to gardai, there were two sources of the fire and an inflammable substance appeared to have been used. There was a full investigation but no one was ever charged in connection with the incident. The venture was eventually sold for £92,000.
In partnership with his brother, Bert, he purchased the former Mary Rose pub in Blessington, Co Wicklow, in late November 1991, renaming it The Cooerage.
He deliberately sought out Esther when, after an earlier relationship ended, she became available in 1986. He was very courteous and attentive, not just to her but to her entire family. Within little more than a year he and Esther were married.
However, even while he was courting his future wife he is alleged to have been having a sexual relationship with a 17 year old girl who gave birth to a baby shortly after the McCanns' wedding.
His motive for murdering his wife, according to the State, was to ensure that she would not learn of this liaison. But Esther would have been understanding had he tried to explain, according to her sister, Ms Marian Leonard. "If he had known Esther, he would have known she was one of the most forgiving people you could ever meet her quality of forgiveness was endless."
Far from seeking her understanding, a "coldness" crept into his attitude to Esther during their first year of marriage, with Frank working long hours and his swimming commitments taking a lot of his leisure time. Also, the impression fostered by McCann that his wife was infertile was untrue, according to her family. That she had no children had more to do with the nature of the relationship with her husband, they believe, and they suspect that from the start the marriage was just another part of his necessary image building.
After making his statement to gardai, McCann was admitted to St John of God Hospital with an apparent nervous breakdown. There he met a female patient and, upon release, moved with her to Tramore, Co Waterford. Gardai who arrested him found him fitting out their mobile home, complete with pipework beneath the floor.
His first trial, in early 1994, ended when he attempted to set fire to himself in prison and the second trial was briefly suspended after he had an apparent panic attack while giving evidence. But during most of the trial he engaged in animated conversation both with his legal team and with the guards escorting him. Gardai believe he was at all times in control of his defence.
One garda who dealt with him since his arrest said McCann was "cunning, calculating and devoid of sentiment". But the elaborateness with which the gardai believe he planned the murders may have been his downfall. It provided gardai with so many potential leads that, when none of them went anywhere, the suspicion fell even more heavily on him.