Father of man suspected of Fermanagh murder-suicide in court on firearms charge

The grandfather of two children who were murdered along with their mother in Co Fermanagh last year was in court for a firearms offence

THE elderly father of a man suspected of killing his wife and their two children in Co Fermanagh last year, has been handed a suspended sentence for a breach of his firearms licence.

Ernest Rutledge (77) of Dernavogy Road in Brookeborough was charged with failing to comply with the conditions of a firearms certificate the day before Vanessa Whyte and her two children, James and Sarah Rutledge, were murdered in their family home on July 23, 2025.

The children’s father, Ian Rutledge, is suspected of shooting the three of them before turning a firearm on himself in an apparent murder-suicide.

Their grandfather, Ernest Rutledge, has a firearms licence for three guns but when police searched his home the day after the shooting they found one was missing.

He pleaded guilty to the breach of his licence and was sentenced to six months in prison but the judge suspended the sentence for a period of two years after hearing of Ernest Rutledge’s remorse, guilty plea and other mitigating factors.

Mr Rutledge was also banned from keeping firearms for eight years.