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Dublin child deaths: No signs of injury found on three siblings found dead at home, police say

Irish police ‘continue to investigate all the circumstances of these unexplained deaths’

Kate Ng
Monday 27 January 2020 19:33 GMT
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Three children found dead in Co Dublin named

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Post-mortem examinations completed on three children found dead in their home last week reportedly revealed there were no obvious signs of injuries on their bodies.

The remains of Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla, 3, were discovered by Irish police and their father, Andrew McGinley, in the house they lived with their mother in the village of Newcastle, county Dublin, on Friday night.

According to local reports, Irish police — known as Gardai — believe the children may have been sedated or poisoned and then suffocated to death.

Their mother, identified as Deirdre Morley, left the house in the evening and was seen in a disoriented state on a nearby street around 7.30pm. It is unclear if the children were left at home unattended.

A concerned taxi driver took Ms Morley home but she collapsed by the time they arrived at the house and the driver rang emergency services, reported the Irish Times. She is believed to be receiving medical treatment at Tallaght University Hospital.

It was after the Gardai and paramedics arrived with Ms Morley’s husband and the children’s father that they found them dead.

Two anonymous notes were reportedly found in the property when police entered on Friday night.

The first note had instructions not to go inside but to call 999 instead, while the second carried a grim warning that the children “were facing a life of nothing”, according to the Irish Sun.

Gardai told The Independent: “The post mortems on the three children, Conor, Darragh and Carla were completed by assistant state pathologist Margot Bolster at the Dublin City Morgue Saturday evening.

“Interim post mortem results are not being published for operational reasons and further toxicology results are still awaited.”

The house remains sealed off and examinations are underway by the Garda Technical Bureau. Police have not made any arrests and are still investigating “all the circumstances of these unexplained deaths”.

“[Gardai] is making no further comment at this time,” they added.

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