‘Andy was trying to get to the door, the blood was pumping out of him’

Mr Allen (24) was shot dead at Links View Park, Buncrana on February 9, 2012.

No-one has been charged in relation to his death.

The inquest was opened yesterday at Buncrana Courthouse by Donegal coroner Dr Denis McCauley and a jury of five men and two women later found he had died by unlawful killing.

A deposition from Mr Allen’s then partner Arlene Farrelly was read by Garda inspector David Durkin.

She told how she and Mr Allen, a father-of-two, had been watching TV in a downstairs bedroom before he began playing with his nephew on a games console via a headset.

Ms Farrelly told how she heard a number of “big bangs”, and pushed back the curtains to look out the window.

She saw a man “booting” the front door, as well as the tail lights of a car, with its engine running. Ms Farrelly described the man as around 5ft 8 in height, of skinny build and wearing a black baseball cap and dark clothes. He was carrying a gun.

Ms Farrelly said she heard shots coming through the window. Mr Allen fell to the ground and “roared that he couldn’t feel his legs”.

Ms Farrelly told how he was “sliding” to try and get to the door and “blood was pumping out of him”. She rang 999, and tried to hold Mr Allen’s head up but “it was like he was choking and couldn’t get a breath”.

She ran for help to a neighbour’s house and when they returned she attempted CPR but she and neighbour Daniel McGonagle knew Mr Allen was dead.

Ms Farrelly told how, eight months previously, Mr Allen’s name was one of six on a list of names sent in an envelope with a bullet to Gobnascale Family Centre. He was informed by the PSNI and Ms Farelly said she understood it was for anti-social behaviour. Mr Allen moved to Buncrana and “never left the house”.

Mr Allen later got a call to say his “name was off the list” and he began going back into Londonderry. Ms Farrelly said Mr Allen had been involved with drugs “years ago” but to her knowledge “had no involvement” while he was with her.

Gardai Detective Inspector Pat O’Donnell said the investigation into Mr Allen’s death is ongoing and they have pursued “hundreds of lines of enquiry”. He said that in his opinion, Mr Allen died as a result of an unlawful killing.

The findings of the post mortem were read to the inquest by Dr McCauley.

Dr Cassidy found that Mr Allen sustained three gunshot wounds, one of which to his chest caused “death rapidly”.

Dr McCauley asked the jury to decide if they agreed with the cause of death. He asked them to consider two verdicts, unlawful killing or an open verdict. The jury found unanimously that Mr Allen died by unlawful killing.

Dr McCauley, Inspector Durkin and the jury expressed their sympathies to Mr Allen’s family. Insp Durkin said the investigation into his death remains ongoing and although the inquest had been heard, “it is not the end of the matter from An Garda Siochana’s point of view”.