Man detained after murder of woman in Co Laois village

A MURDER investigation began yesterday evening after the discovery of the body of a woman in her 60s in her home near Mountrath, Co Laois.

A man was being held in Portlaoise Garda station last night for questioning. A Garda spokesman said that a definite line of inquiry was being followed.

Mrs Patti Bainbridge was found dead in the old rectory near the village of Coolrain, about five miles from Mountrath, when gardai arrived at the house shortly after 5 p.m. The gardai at Mountrath had received a telephone call at 4.55 p.m. asking them to call to the rectory.

It is believed that the woman had not been dead for long when the gardai arrived at the house.

The scene was being preserved last night. The Chief State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, is due to carry out a post mortem examination on the body later today.

Gardai at Mountrath said that a search had begun for a murder weapon. They could not give a cause of death and said that there were no obvious injuries to the body.

Coolrain is a small, quiet village about three miles off the main Dublin Limerick road on the Roscrea side of Mountrath. The old rectory is about half a mile outside the village.

Mrs Bainbridge lived there with her husband, David, and son, Nigel. The couple have other children living in England.

Mrs Bainbridge was a local woman who had spent most of her married life in England, where her husband had a business in Worthing, Sussex. The couple had bought the old rectory a number of years ago and travelled regularly between Worthing and Coolrain.

"They planned to retire there", said a local garda who knew the couple.

It is understood that Mrs Bainbridge's elderly mother still lives in the area.