Friends have rallied around a woman who was labelled a “gold digger” after marrying a wealthy landowner just one day before he succumbed to cancer.
Lisa Flaherty, 50, is set to inherit a 220-acre farm, estimated to be worth €5.5 million (£4.7 million), as the widow of Joseph Grogan. However, it emerged at his inquest last week that none of the 75 year old’s relatives attended the wedding, as they were oblivious to the couple’s relationship.
Following the inquest at Offaly Coroner’s Court in Tullamore, County Offaly, the family solicitor for Mr Grogan suggested the hearing had left “an awful lot of unanswered questions”. He stated that the circumstances surrounding Mr Grogan’s death could only be scrutinised by professionals experienced in investigating “suspicious deaths.”
Nevertheless, the coroner dismissed requests to refer the death for an extensive forensic investigation.
In the midst of this verbal battle, Ms Flaherty’s friends and family have insisted that she and Mr Grogan “were very much in love”. Towards the end of his battle with Stage IV Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer diagnosed in 2023, Ms Flaherty became Mr Grogan’s part-time carer, reports the Mirror.
Ms Flaherty, a mother of three adult children from a previous marriage, moved in with her partner in Screggan, County Offaly, and they subsequently got engaged. Tragically, Mr Grogan passed away on April 15, 2023, just one day after marrying Ms Flaherty.
“The world can think what it wants but how Lisa has been portrayed is not right. They were both wonderful people who were very well respected in this community. Lisa didn’t care for Joe because she wanted his money, that’s total rubbish,” Joe Keys, who was one of Mr Grogan’s best friends, said this week.
And a close friend of Ms Flaherty told Mail Online: “I’ve known both all my life and I can promise you, they were very much in love. They were committed to each other, nobody cared for Joe like Lisa did, not even his own family. The two of them were inseparable.
“She’s the one who was beside him throughout his life and when he needed her most, as he was dying. She did an amazing job, and it wasn’t for financial reasons, Lisa is not that sort of person. She’s one of the most loving and kind people you could ever meet.”
Whilst providing testimony at the inquest, Ms Flaherty revealed that her relationship with Mr Grogan began when she was a teenager.
She was forced to exit the courtroom on several occasions as the proceedings became overwhelmingly emotional for her.
Mr Grogan, who had no offspring of his own, was embalmed within hours of his death, rendering it practically impossible to establish a definitive cause of death.
Others in the small village of Screggan, who were acquainted with the farmer, claimed he served as a paternal figure to Ms Flaherty’s son and two daughters during their upbringing. A close friend revealed: “Lisa was very young when she first met Joe, but it wasn’t a big deal, she was above the legal age of consent and there was nothing paedophile about his intentions. It was the start of a loving, caring relationship that continued for many years.”
The family of Mr Grogan are adamant that the “police need to investigate” his death. However, the coroner delivered a “narrative verdict”, which is an account of the circumstances surrounding a death rather than a direct ruling as to its cause.