Badly decomposed body found in house in west Cork

Gardaí hope that a post-mortem today will establish the exact cause of death of a man whose badly decomposed body was found in a house in a remote part of West Cork on Saturday.

The body of the man, believed to be that of a 70-year-old Englishman, was found in an isolated house in the middle of woods at Gortnamuckla some 4km north-east of Dunmanway.

The man’s body was discovered in the house around lunchtime on Saturday by a neighbour who noticed that the deceased had not collected post at the end of a boreen where it was usually left for him.

The neighbour alerted gardaí and garda technical officers carried out a preliminary examination of the man’s body at the scene before his remains were removed to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Gardaí say that there is nothing to suggest the man was the victim of foul play but because of advanced decomposition, they have requested a state post-mortem as a precautionary measure.

Gardaí have yet to formally identify the deceased, but Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster is expected to carry out the post-mortem on the dead man at CUH on Sunday morning.

It is believed the man - who was well known around Dunmanway - was seen alive earlier this month but gardaí are carrying out inquiries to establish the exact last confirmed sighting of him alive.