Gardaí in heroin ‘trawl’ of hospitals

Gardaí in Limerick last night confirmed they are carrying out a “trawl” of admissions at the city’s two hospitals over the past month to find out if any drug addicts were treated for unusual side-effects from heroin.

Contaminated heroin is one suspected cause of the deaths of twin brothers Peter and Kevin Moran.

Autopsies carried out yesterday by state pathologist Marie Cassidy proved inconclusive.

Further toxicology tests may take up to a month to identify what caused the deaths.

Gardaí have asked hospitals in the city to check heroin addict admissions in recent months for patients displaying unusual complications.

The bodies of the twin brothers were found in a rented apartment in Steamboat Quay on Wednesday. Evidence found at the apartment indicated the deaths were linked to heroin.

Their mother, Margaret Moran, became concerned after the twins failed to make contact for a number of days.

On contacting management at the apartment building, a member of staff found the bodies at about 3.30pm. Ms Moran was present at the time of the grim discovery.

After a preliminary forensic examination of the scene, gardaí were satisfied the deaths were not suspicious.

Following the autopsies at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Detective Inspector Tom O’Connor said: “The outcomes of both postmortems were inconclusive, subject to toxicology analysis.”

Ms Moran, was being comforted at the family home in Old Cork Rd by relatives and neighbours. She has two other sons and two daughters.