‘Beautiful, much loved’ mother killed in Laois assault is named

A woman killed in an assault at an apartment in Co Laois has been named locally as Sharon Crean, the mother of a 2½-year-old boy.

As the postmortem on Ms Crean’s remains was ongoing late on Thursday a man arrested about her killing was still being questioned by detectives.

While gardaí were awaiting the results of the postmortem before the inquiry could be upgraded to a murder investigation, gardaí believe Ms Cream, who was in her 30s, was attacked in her home on College St, Mountmellick, on Wednesday and died as a result of those injuries.

All of the resources of a homicide inquiry were committed to the case immediately. Ms Crean’s remains were discovered at about 4.45pm. Her body was left in situ at the apartment on College Street overnight into Thursday morning pending the arrival of a pathologist to preliminarily examine the remains where they were discovered.

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A death notice described Ms Crean as a “much loved” mother and said her death was “deeply regretted” by her mother, sisters and brothers. No funeral arrangements for the dead woman had been announced by Thursday night as family members and loved ones paid tribute to her online.

“Whatever I will do without you, I will never know,” said her sister, Tara Cullen. “You were my sister, my best friend, my godmother all in one. Your little boy is going to be so lost without you. My heart is broken into a thousand pieces. I don’t know what to say or do, I’m so numb. I never in my life thought I would ever get news like this. I will forever love you my beautiful sister, you will never be forgotten.”

Another of Ms Crean’s sisters, Elaine Crean, said he could not “put in words what we’re going through... You were my big sister and I loved you so much. Fly high Sharon till we meet again”.

Members of the Garda Technical Bureau were also dispatched the scene on Wednesday and began a forensic examination of the apartment and shared areas in the building. A number of items were taken from the apartment, in evidence bags, for examination in the hope they would yield evidence linking Ms Crean’s killer to the crime. Gardaí are operating on a definite line of inquiry.

A man arrested on Wednesday afternoon was known to Ms Crean and he was still being questioned at Portlaoise Garda station late on Thursday. However, as he was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, gardaí have a maximum of 24 hours to question him before he must be charged with a crime or released without charge. However, that 24-hour period can be prolonged if it is paused so a suspect can rest or needs medical treatment or assessment.

Ms Crean had sustained serious injuries, including a number of wounds, and searches were being carried out in College Street and the surrounding area on Thursday in an effort to find any weapons the killer may have used or anything else of evidential value that may have been discarded.