A murder investigation is expected to be opened in Limerick today after a body was discovered in a shallow grave in a field outside the city. It is feared the body may be that of a 25-year-old man from the north side of the city who has been missing since last week.
The alarm was raised at about 4pm yesterday when a person out walking discovered an area of disturbed ground off the Knockalisheen Road at the back of Castle Park estate in Moyross approximately a mile outside the city.
Among those gathered at the scene yesterday was the family of Lee Slattery from Ballynanty who was fearing the worst for the 25-year-old who has been missing since last Thursday.
Gardaí say they will not be in a position to identify the body until this morning after the State Pathologist has carried out a post mortem. Mr Slattery was last seen by his family on May 27th and was reported missing to gardaí at the weekend.
Members of the Garda Technical Bureau from Dublin travelled to the scene last night and a preliminary examination was carried out.
Insp John O’Reilly of Henry Street Garda station in Limerick confirmed that a body was found concealed by earth.
“We have been investigating a report of a missing person, a person who went missing last Thurdsay night near midnight. As a result of information we received we found disturbed ground, we cordoned off the scene and brought down a team from the bureau in Garda headquarters. We have carried out a preliminary search of the scene and we can confirm that we found a body,” he said.
“It’s early stages in the investigation but we are conducting inquiries and we will know more tomorrow. We have to carry out idenfication of the body tomorrow but we have found a body, ” he said.
A full examination of the scene will be carried out this morning and a postmortem will be carried out by the State Pathologist.
Insp O’Reilly appealed for anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity in the area from 9pm last Thursday until Sunday afternoon to contact gardaí. “A lot of people use this area for grazing horses so anyone who may have seen anything or heard anything should contact Mayorstone or Henry Street Garda stations,” he said.
Gardaí can be contacted at the Mayorstone Park incident room on 061 456989 or the Garda Confidential phone line on 1800 666 111.