Second scene sealed off as Meath murder inquiry begins

Gardai have begun a murder investigation following the discovery of the remains of a man on a beach in Co Meath this morning.

The dead man has been identified. He was from Eastern Eurpe and was in his mid-40s . He had a number of serious head injuries and gardai believe he died a violent death. Gardaí will not be releasing his name until relatives have been notified.

Gardai are trying to establish if he was killed elsewhere . Several hours after the body was discovered a second scene was inspected by gardai after reports of bloodstains at a house in the Marsh Road area of the town, the most direct route to the Mornington area. A number of houses next to an undertakers were sealed off and detectives carried out inspections in a home in one of the buildings.

“We won’t know how he died until the postmortem is carried out but it looks like he was beaten,” said one Garda source.

Another source said investigators do not believe the man had been in the water and was washed in with the tide. “It looks like he was beaten and died where he was found or he was attacked somewhere else and his body was dumped on the beach.”

The remains were found on Mornington beach at about 9.30am by people out walking, who contacted gardai.

Uniformed gardai from Laytown Garda station arrived on the scene and sealed off a wide area. The body was left undisturbed and the State Pathologist’s office was notified.

The man’s remains were removed to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where a post mortem examination was carried out by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy. Gardaí are not disclosing the results of the post mortem.

However, Garda sources said they believe the man died violently and that the case is a homicide.

Members of the Garda Technical Bureau are due to carry out an examination of the section of beach where the body was found. They will also examine the wider area, looking for any evidence of people or vehicles having been on the beach late last night or into the early hours of this morning.

The spot where the body was found is not far for the section of beach where local man Roy Coddington was shot day in March 2007. Coddington (36), a father of three, Treadagh View, Drogheda, Co Louth, had been heavily involved in the drug trade in Louth and Meath for 10 years.

On Thursday, March 22nd, 2007, he met two men known to him near Mornington beach. He was driven by the men into sand dunes before being pulled from the car and fatally shot. The gunman first shot the victim twice in the upper body. As Mr Coddington fell on to the sand the gunman leaned over him and fired two further shots into his head from a handgun before fleeing with his accomplice. The attack was witnessed by a German woman who was in the area with a number of children.

There is no information as yet to link today’s discovery to Coddington’s murder.