Jury finds Mayo man (28) guilty of arson attack on ex-fiancée's home

A Mayo man was found guilty of carrying out an arson attack at the home of his ex-fiancée.

A jury at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court convicted Eamon Maughan Jnr, aged 28, of Castlegrove, Castlebar, of arson.

He was acquitted of a charge of making threats to kill.

The court heard that Maughan had been engaged to the injured party, Ellen Maughan, but she stated she broke off the engagement seven years ago. She married another man and lived in a house in Castlegrove with her husband and their three children.

Ellen Maughan told the court on the night of October 29, 2025, she was alone in her home with her three children. Her husband was in a relative’s house following a family funeral.

She woke at 3 a.m. when she heard two loud bangs. She pulled back her bedroom curtain and saw Eamon Maughan running away towards his mother’s house in the Castlegrove estate. “He was after throwing a petrol bomb at my house,” she said.

Ellen said when she opened her front door it was on fire and Halloween decorations were ablaze. She claimed the hallway became engulfed in smoke and said she used pots of water to quench the flames.

“What looked like a petrol bomb was on the steps,” she told the court.

She said her three children were under five at the time and she was terrified.

Ellen said she believed Eamon knew she was in the house on her own as he had attempted to gain entry to the house where her husband was but was refused.

Ellen contacted the emergency services and she and her children were escorted to her in-laws house in Chestnut Grove.

She alleged that when she, her husband and children returned to their home at 7 a.m. the next morning, Eamon Maughan was waiting on the steps outside.

She claimed he was “shouting abuse” and threated to burn them out of their home while challenging her husband Michael to a fight. Ellen told the court she ran into her house and called the gardaí. She has moved house since.

Ellen said she believed Eamon Maughan had struggled with their break-up while she had moved on with her life.

Barrister Fergal McMorrow, representing Eamon Maughan, accused Ellen of exaggerating the extent of the fire. He also questioned why she did not video Eamon Maughan on her phone if he turned up at their house the next day.

“Everything I am saying is the truth. Eamon Maughan petrol bombed my home when he knew I was alone with my kids,” she stated.

Mr. McMorrow contended that the extent of the damage to the door of the property did not tally with a petrol bomb being thrown.

The court later heard that a Fairy Liquid bottle containing petrol was found outside the front door. No DNA evidence connected to Eamon Maughan was discovered on the bottle.

Ellen’s husband Michael Maughan said he rang Eamon Maughan on the night after learning what happened. He claimed Eamon Maughan told him on the phone – “You did me a favour, I did you a favour.”

Eamon Maughan denied ever being at Ellen Maughan’s property. He told gardaí he had been drinking all night in Sully’s bar and then went to his father’s home at Knockthomas Drive.

State prosecutor Pat Reynolds told the jury that the incident “wasn’t the Great Fire of London." However, even if Ellen Maughan had exaggerated the extent of the blaze, it didn’t mean that it didn’t happen.

Mr. McMorrow asserted that there were “glaring, roaring inconsistences” in Ellen Maughan’s version of events. He also questioned why gardaí failed to obtain CCTV from the area that could have corroborated his client’s route that night.

After approximately an hour of deliberation, a jury returned a guilty verdict on the arson charge and cleared Eamon Maughan of making threats to kill.

Judge Eoin Garavan remanded Eamon Maughan in custody and adjourned the case for sentencing to March 1, 2027.

* Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.